Twilight Pretty Cure!
by Julia Lucrezia Hanazono
Summary: When a young boy steals a powerful jewel and decimates an entire planet, a queen sends four fairy sisters to find young girls who can transform into Pretty Cure and stop him at any cost. But they're not perfect, and in order to truly do their job, they have to not only put aside their own grievances, they have to also squelch their own inner demons.
1. I'm a Real Super Hero?

Twilight Pretty Cure

Chapter 1: I'm a Real Super Hero?! Cure Twilight Shines Through!

_In another world…_

Discord swept all across the desolate land like a tsunami after an earthquake, only this was much worse. It came so fast, so suddenly, and so out of the blue that nobody had even a microsecond to react, or even so much as to comprehend what just happened. The ground looked as though it were literally stripped of every single blade of grass it ever had, leaving only a mostly charred, barren ground. Trees, stripped bare of their leaves, were all now gnarled and twisted in grotesque, unnatural ways, some branches even falling to the ground. Noisome, ugly, stormy clouds of smoke curled into the grey sky, polluting the once clean, pristine air. Houses all around were either partly destroyed, with some roof tiles falling to the ground or big holes in the walls, or reduced to gigantic piles of wood, bricks, broken furniture, and whatever else they made houses with, decimated down to their deepest cores. Other areas were simply swallowed up by thunderous blue flames, dancing wildly and eating whatever was within their vicinity.

It was a complete and utter disaster zone.

It was like every single natural disaster attacked it, like a combination of earthquakes, tornadoes, and rain storms. But none of this was natural. No, this certainly wasn't natural. Not even a little bit.

In the midst of one piece of wreckage, a young, skinny teenager of about fifteen years old stood looking up at the dismal, abject sky with his bloody red eyes shining lustily like a shiny new red sports car, like he was having the best thrill he ever had. His medium length hair, a shining shade of silver like starlight, glistened somewhat amidst the frightening flames, heavily contrasting with his thin, golden, olive leaf diadem. His pale skin looked almost transparent and clearly contrasted with his dark attire, a dark brown vest, a lavender ruffle, a short sleeved black shirt, black pants, tall red boots, a red cape, and fingerless red gloves. The smile on his face was a wicked one, not appropriate for the desolate setting. In both of his hands is a large, black stone, shaped like a diamond, about the size of a dirty red brick, glowing eerily like the lights of a haunted house, if haunted houses even had working lights at all.

"So this is it...this is the true extent of my newly acquired power...Wow! This jewel really is as powerful as everybody says! I've never felt so alive until now! Finally, I truly feel alive, like I can actually achieve what I want to achieve!" The young boy whispered softly but wickedly at first, making him sound like he didn't quite comprehend the situation and everything around him at first. But once he drank up his surroundings like a kid in a restaurant drinking juice out of a bendy straw, he yelled and let out a hearty laugh, like he had never felt so free, so alive, in his whole entire life.

"How could you…?" A hoarse, ladylike voice asked from just fifteen feet away, coming from a woman whose refined, elegant, Navajo Indian-styled clothes were now in rips, rags, and tatters, her steel silver hair now scraggly and dirty, covered in patches of dirt. Her body is covered with fresh scars and scratches. One scar on her face was bleeding, but not too much. But she shot daggers at the boy with her emerald hued eyes, filled with a conflicted combination of shock and anger. "How could you do this to us, Zenjin?! This is your home! Do you have any idea what you've done?!" The woman yelled angrily, her voice going up an octave, choleric with what the boy, Zenjin, has done.

He barely noticed her, but he did turn around to look at her once he stopped laughing. The look in his cherry red eyes was full of nothing but bloodlust and hate, with a wicked smile to go with it. The woman's face went pale as soon as they made full eye contact. She really didn't like the look on his face. There was no empathy, no mercy, nothing. Only hate and malice, but also a touch of what appears to be childlike curiosity. "Oh, I _know_ what I've done. Now I truly understand what this jewel is capable of...and I LOVE IT!"

"What?!" The woman exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. Her emerald eyes soon looked as though they were about to pop right out of her eyes when she saw the brick-sized, raven black jewel in his hands. "No! You...you've corrupted the Energia with your hatred!"

"So that's its name...Energia. That's so stupid! You could have come up with something better, Queen," Zenjin replied insouciantly, without any hint of remorse in his high pitched voice.

"Zenjin! Look what you've done! So many of our citizens have died because of the jewel being powered by your hatred! Have you any remorse at all?! Please, stop! Give the Energia back to us! You don't know what it's truly capable of, especially if it falls into the wrong hands! It's easily influenced by evil feelings like hatred and lust! Give it back so we can restore Rozaniela back to normal! Please!" The Queen yelled angrily but with desperation and pleading in her shrill voice. Hiding behind a nearby gnarled tree are four small, stuffed animal-like creatures, floating in the air, fearful of the silver haired boy, their wide, round eyes wide with fright and horror, afraid of what's to come or what he might do next.

"Do I look like I care?" Zenjin asked right before stretching out one of his hands and firing an ominous purple and black beam at the weak woman, knocking her off her feet and causing her to scream in agony and fall onto the barren, charred ground.

"Queen Malgorzata!" The four floating animals yelled as they flew over to the woman, Queen Malgorzata. The light blue one's hands began to glow as it placed them on the area where she was hit.

"He's out of control!" The pale purple one exclaimed frightfully.

"What are we going to do?! He's destroyed 80% of Rozaniela! We've never seen destruction of this caliber before!" The light blue one asked with dread peppering her voice.

"Actually...there is a way we can fix this…" Queen Malgorzata whispered weakly.

"What? There is?" The orange one asked, confused.

"Yes...take a guess," Queen Malgorzata said. Her injuries have healed slightly upon the rumination of the fairies. Soon, it dawned on them one the light blue fairy finished healing Malgorzata's shoulder.

"No! No! You can't be suggesting _that_!" The light pink one exclaimed.

"We don't know if they truly exist or not!" The pale purple one cried out sadly.

Queen Malgorzata rummaged through part of her dress and pulled out four small, star shaped bottles-in four different colors: lavender purple, ocean blue, sunny yellow, and mandarin orange-with heart shaped caps on them. They looked like perfume bottles, but they're completely empty. "These Heart Lighters are proof enough that they exist. My dearest fairies...you must go to Earth to find humans whose hearts resonate with these Heart Lighters...the Pretty Cures. They are the only ones who can stop Zenjin's malice and return the Energia back to its original state...and save what's left of Rozaniela," Queen Malgozata whispered weakly.

"But we don't even know how we're supposed to tell if they're the Pretty Cures or not! We've never been able to find out the actual requirements for being a Pretty Cure!" The orange one exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter! Just go to Earth and find them! I don't care who it is, how old they are, how incapable they are, whatever! As long as their hearts resonate with these Heart Lighters...then they can help us. Go to Earth! Now!" Queen Malgorzata exclaimed. The Heart Lighters glowed in their respective colors and floated to the creatures. The yellow one went into the orange creature's ribbon, the purple one into the purple one's ribbon, the blue one into the blue one's ribbon, and the orange one in the pink one's ribbon.

"But we can't just leave you here!" The pale purple fairy exclaimed sadly, her voice completely consumed by a tsunami of both trepidation and worry.

"Oh no! Look!" The pink one cried out fearfully.

It was a sight that all five of them dreaded. The jewel is glowing in an ominous, malicious looking black light. It floated toward an absolutely ecstatic Zenjin and...went inside of him by way of his chest. As soon as it went inside him, he cried out in pain. He felt as though his entire body was on fire, just like the flames consuming whatever houses and trees he destroyed. But once he got used to the feeling, he seemed to enjoy his body feeling like its on fire.

"Yes...the power is inside me...my body's on fire...wow! This is great! I can do whatever I want from now on! YES!" Zenjin howled happily, like he was experiencing the ultimate high.

"How dare you...WE ALL RAISED YOU!" The orange fairy yelled and flew after Zenjin faster than a race car, her sky blue eyes literally blazing with rancor and jingoistic anger.

"Sunbeam! NO!" The pale purple fairy tried to grab her, but the orange fairy, Sunbeam, was too fast for her.

But she couldn't get close enough, as Zenjin fired another beam at her, which she thankfully evaded. He didn't even look! He just continued smiling and laughing maniacally. Sunbeam, realizing that the power he successfully acquired from absorbing the Energia is too great for her to handle, went back to the injured Queen.

"His rampage on Rozaniela...is just a test run. His real intention is to go to Earth. For what reason, I don't know. We don't know what's going on in his head, but that's what I fear the most. Please, my dear fairies. Sunbeam, Moonbeam, Starbeam, Lovebeam. Get to Earth before he does. Find the people whose hearts resonate with the Heart Lighters. They can stop him. I'm begging you…" Queen Malgorzata told them weakly.

Silently but reluctantly, the fairies nodded and flew away with the Heart Lighters tucked away in the bows around their necks, toward the sky. They were all unsure of what would happen. But soon, Zenjin spotted them.

"Pheh! Those blasted fairies! They better not interfere with my quest!" Zenjin yelled as he himself flew toward the sky, with bloodlust consuming every fiber of his soul, flowing through all of his veins like blood.

* * *

(dream)

"_No! Please! Let my baby go! I'll do whatever you say! Please don't hurt her!" A young mother pleaded desperately as a person draped entirely in black, ski mask included, is holding her crying two year old girl by the arm like she's a rag doll, with a knife very close to pressing against her fragile skin._

"_Mommy!" The girl wailed timorously, yearning for her mother to save her._

"_So what?! You don't really care about this little piece of trash, so I might as well do away with her so I can lighten your load! You can thank me after you see her mangled corpse!" The man exclaimed arrogantly with excessive pride peppering his deep, booming voice. But all of a sudden…_

"_You leave that little girl alone, you heartless demon!" A young voice called out from atop of a building. The voice was so strong, it surprised the man so much that he unknowingly let go of the little girl. Happy to be released, she ran to her mother crying. Her mother, also crying tears of joy, embraced her little girl, ecstatic to know that she's safe._

"_Who goes there?! Show yourself!" The black clad man yelled._

_He soon saw a small figure standing on the house he's right in front of, standing proudly with its arm crossed. "You go around talking about helping people...but to think you'd go as far as to attempt to kill children, claiming to take away their stress...you're a major hypocrite!"_

_Soon, the figure leaped in front of the surprised man, revealing itself to be a young girl of about twelve years old, with short, purple hair, and matching violet eyes. She has tall, purple cat ears on her head and a long purple tail with darker purple stripes on it. She's wearing a sleeveless purple top with a pink bow on it, a purple choker, puffed up purple shorts, fingerless purple gloves with sharp, silver, steel claws protruding from them, and fake purple cat feet. She also has dark purple stripes painted all over her, like her face, arms, and legs._

"_Now who might you be?!" The man asked._

"_I am the protector of this town! I am Twilight Cat! My job here is to cleanse this town of nefarious barbarians like you, Arsene Black! Meow!" The girl, Twilight Cat, exclaimed, striking a pose, with her long claws up and ready._

"_Bwahahaha! So the Twilight Cat I've heard so much about is a mere little girl?! You couldn't possibly defeat me! This is hilarious!" The black clad man, Arsene Black, laughed loudly, feeling his stomach twinge a little at the very thought of a little girl dressed like a cat being a hero. How could a mere little girl like this possibly even be remotely threatening and intimidating. This had to be some funny joke. But the girl was not perturbed by this. In fact, in his laughter, she smirked, and before he knew it, he felt something slice his mask._

_His ski mask fell to pieces. When he looked down, he saw what was left of his mask, felt around his face, and screamed. Then he froze upon seeing Twilight Cat's claw aimed right in front of him, with Twilight Cat keeping him in place with her slanted purple eyes. "Still think I'm an innocent kitten? I could slice your throat open if I wanted to. Meow!"_

"_Uh...okay! Okay! I give up! Let me go! Please!" Arsene Black begged._

"_You don't have any special powers, so don't think you're so high and mighty. I know this Arsene Black persona is just a facade. You're pretending to be a villain so you can feel powerful, right?" Twilight Cat insinuated venomously, without any hint of mercy._

_Surprised by what she said, Arsene Black fell to his knees dejectedly. "...You read me like a map. Am I that obvious? I'm just...so sick of everybody picking on me and walking all over me," He whimpered sadly._

"_I understand your plight, but resorting to hurting people and pretending to be some bad guy will only make things worse for you. Wouldn't you want to be someone they can look up to? Someone they can rely on?" Twilight Cat asked._

"_Hey look! It's Twilight Cat! She's secured another villain once again!" Someone exclaimed. Soon, a whole crowd of people surrounded her like fans finally seeing their favorite rock star live._

"_You're our hero, Twilight Cat!"_

"_You've saved us again!"_

_Soon, everyone began chanting happily, "Twilight Cat! Twilight Cat! Twilight Cat!"_

_Twilight Cat's ears twitched and tail wagged happily as she basked in the praise of the citizens, happy to have done another good deed for them. But soon, the chanting very quickly changed into something unpleasant._

"Hey weirdo cat!"

_Then, a force pummeled her on the head, knocking her out._

(end dream)

"Owwwww!" As it turns out, Twilight Cat is really just a young girl of about twelve years old, with very short, boyish, raven black hair, and dark green eyes that glistened like morning dew on the evergreen grass. Her skin is of an apricot shade, and she's currently wearing a pair of pale blue pajamas consisting of a long sleeved shirt with a pocket on her right breast, and long pants. She's in her room right now, but she felt a blow to her leg which definitely made it pulsate in pain, causing her to fall into a pile of stuffed animals on her bed, breaking her fall.

Perturbed and angered, she looked down and saw the culprit: a much younger girl of seven years old, with straight, raven black hair going down to her shoulders and eyes of the same emerald hue, but a lighter shade. She's wearing a pink long sleeved shirt, a white skirt, black shoes, and pink and red socks with hearts all over them. But the little girl had her arms crossed, and her chubby face didn't look the least bit happy.

"Rina! You kicked me in the leg! That's not nice!" The older girl shouted angrily as she pulled herself out of the stuffed animal pile, causing some to plop onto the floor. The little girl was not deterred.

"Yeah, I did. It's your fault for being weird and daydreaming again, Riko! Why can't you be normal like me? You better not do that hero cat girl stuff in school or everybody's gonna hate you! Well, they're gonna hate you anyway since you're stupid and not normal like me!" The little girl, Rina, yelled at the older girl, Riko, rather bluntly, confessing her transgression but with a venom peppering her words.

"What's going on in here?" Soon, two adults came into the room, a man and a woman.

"Rina kicked me in my leg!" Riko shouted, unabashedly pointing at Rina with her extended index finger.

The man crossed his arms. "Is this true, Rina? How many times do we have to tell you? We don't hit people in this house!" He scolded firmly.

Rina indiscreetly pointed at Riko and blurted out, without any hesitation, "She's being weird and stupid again! She's supposed to be the older sister!"

"It's okay if she only does it in the house. But that doesn't make it right for you to hit your big sister or call her names, young lady. Now I want you to apologize," The woman scolded firmly but gently.

"But Mom-"

"Apologize. Now," The mother insisted firmly, not letting her youngest daughter get away with what she did just now.

Reluctantly, little Rina muttered petulantly, "Sorry…"

Riko said nothing. _'You're not sorry at all, you brat! You're just doing it because Mom told you to!'_ She thought angrily.

"That's better. Now go and get ready. Your first day of school starts in an hour," The father told them. Rina promptly left her room, and so did their parents, leaving Riko alone in her room.

It's a rather nice little room for a twelve year old girl. The bed sheet is purple and embroidered with snowdrops and bellflowers. She has a black dresser, which has a clock, some game consoles, lots of games, some toys, and a little purple and white jewelry box. She also has a green, yellow, and white rug on her floor, lots of stuffed animals lying around her room, a white book shelf filled to the brim with manga and other books, and not only that, her bed is white, looks like a couch (only with white wood), and has three drawers on the bottom of it, with more stuff in it. There are also boxes full of all of her favorite DVDs. Reluctantly, Riko changed out of her pajamas and decided to at least put on her favorite clothes, a light purple shirt with a darker purple cat embroidered on the bottom part with dark purple sleeves, a pair of comfy brown shorts, white socks with pink stars on them, and black and blue sneakers.

With a bit of a dazed look on her face, she picked up her pink school bag, sat on her bed, and began putting notebooks and textbooks in it. _'It's already been a month since we've moved here. I don't want to go to school. They're gonna hate me, just like Rina said...'_ Riko thought dejectedly as she snuck in a manga she planned to read. After that, she brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, walked down the stairs and headed right into the dining room, where she found her mother, father, little sister, and older brother all at the dining room table. Unlike his sisters, the older brother has chocolate brown hair and sapphire eyes that glittered like the sun being reflected on the ocean, though they're hidden by his glasses. So does his father, only he has black hair like his daughters. The mother has curly brown hair trailing down her shoulders and green eyes, like her daughters.

"Morning, Riko-chan!" The older brother chirped enthusiastically.

"Hi, Hikage…" Riko murmured in a monotone voice.

"Not too excited about school, Ri-chan?" The father asked with a smile while holding the paper.

"No," Riko said as she got a banana, peeled it open, and began eating it.

"Arinao, would you mind taking the girls to school before work? I have some bills I have to pay," The mother asked her husband, Arinao.

"Sure, Saki. I don't mind at all," Arinao replied with a smile, making his wife, Saki, quite happy.

"Oh, thank you! I really appreciate this, Ari," Saki exclaimed happily as she wrapped her loving arms around her faithful husband's neck. Riko finished her banana, went into the fridge, and began eating some of her favorite vanilla cream yogurt. Once she finished that, she grabbed her purple lunch box and put stuff in it, like a small bottle of water, a pack of cookies, some chocolate pudding with a spoon, a peanut butter sandwich, some fruit snacks, and crackers. Once that was done, she went back to her room, pulled out a big box of clearly used colored pencils and a sketchbook, and began working on an unfinished picture of a girl in a purple cat outfit...her made up superhero character, Twilight Cat. She pulled out a purple colored pencil to finish adding some texture to her shirt.

She couldn't help but smile as her worries disappeared in thin air as soon as the violet colored pencil made its markings on the paper. For Riko, drawing was only one of her escapes from the harshness of reality. Drawing allowed her to be lost in her dreams and fantasies, and best of all, it allowed her to be herself. Rina didn't mind her drawing, so she wouldn't have to worry about being weird. She could be silent but it would be acceptable in this case, because she's so focused on drawing, and nobody considered her drawing hobby to be inappropriate or weird. Soon, once she was finished coloring her shirt, she added some pink to Twilight Cat's cat ears.

"I wonder if I should make her wear a scarf? Nah, it'd lower her speed. Scarves are too itchy. Oh! I just got a new idea! Twilight Cat should have an episode where she saves chickens and other animals from being killed for their meat, like people's pets, by questionable meat packaging companies! Meow! This'll be great!" Riko chirped happily upon hatching a new story idea in her head and immediately began doodling on a clean piece of paper, writing an outline for said episode. "Twilight Cat saves the day once again! Because of her, the evil meat packaging company closes its doors for good, promising to never kill chickens, pigs, cows, and other animals for their own means ever again, and to do it in more humane ways. Ooooh! This'll be a real juicy idea! It'll make people treat animals better, and not just as meat for them to eat!"

All of a sudden, she felt something soft and furry brush against her arm. She looked to her left and found that it's one of her cats, a pretty tortoise shell cat with chocolate brown fur with many splotches of peanut butter yellow fur decorating the rest of her fur, with a face that made her look like a perfect yin yang symbol because of the peanut butter yellow streak separating her face into two halves, going right down her face and ending right at her little pink button nose. She also has stunning green eyes, like Riko's, only a much lighter shade, even lighter than Rina's. As soon as she saw the affectionate cat rubbing against her arm, she lifted her hand up and proceeded to scratch her head gently, which made the cat purr happily.

"Meow," The pretty little tortoise shell cat meowed.

"Hi Reese! You're always making me happy. Look! I'm drawing more Twilight Cat pictures! Do you think I should give her a sidekick?" Riko said happily, feeling much better having her faithful feline friend, Reese, brightening up her day a little.

"Meow," Reese replied.

"Yeah, you're right. Twilight Cat needs to do more stuff herself. Thanks for the advice. Meow!" Riko replied playfully and played with Reese some more. "I do hope you're not getting into fights with Caroline again."

"Meow."

Once she finished doodling her outline and playing with Reese, she put her sketchbook and a few colored pencils in her book bag and zipped it up tight. She then looked at some things on her dresser: a set of fluffy orange cat ears and a fake cat tail with black stripes on them. She really wanted to wear them and pretend to be her made up hero, Twilight Cat, or at least a real cat, chasing mice and catching fish and playing with yarn. Oh, how her innocent heart yearned for those cat ears and tail. It was like they were calling out to her, saying, _"Put us on! You know you want to! Don't you want to pretend to be Twilight Cat or a real cat or some other anime hero?"_ She really wanted to pretend a little, since Rina very rudely and bluntly interrupted her this morning.

But then she remembered other things people said to her in the past. Mean things, often said in a very crude and insensitive way. _"Don't do it in public. It's not appropriate." "You should know better! You're sick!" "Aren't you a little old to be acting so childish and stupid?" "Do us all a favor and grow up!" "You'll never have any friends if you keep acting like that." "It's because you keep acting like that everyone hates you, you stupid retard!" "It's not appropriate for middle schoolers to play pretend. Don't you have more important things to worry about?" "Why can't you be normal like everyone else?"_ She shook her head, throwing the evil words away. She resisted the temptation and went back downstairs, where she caught Arinao in the den watching the news. She managed to catch a piece of it.

"_Currently, there are no new leads in regards to the outbreak of orphanages closing unexpectedly in Russia, Romania, China, North Korea, Afghanistan, etc. and why children and babies from those orphanages are disappearing by the thousands, making them completely empty. But we have received some eyewitness reports claiming that local homeless people are disappearing from the streets, as though they never existed. Investigators are still having a hard time finding credence to these claims, but we can't deny that these disappearances and foreclosures are very real, and running rampant all over. We only pray that those children and babies are found safe and sound,"_ A female newscaster said.

"We're leaving, Riko. Are you ready?" Arinao asked.

"Yes, Mom!" Riko said as she grabbed her tan coat, purple lunch box, and her pink school bag and followed Arinao and Rina to their silver BMW.

The school was only ten minutes away. All Riko did was stare at the scenery going by. She liked the amount of greenery surrounding them, and how lush the trees looked, like they were never tainted or contaminated. But she really didn't want to go where their car was heading to.

"This'll be a big adjustment for you, Riko. But if you do your best and keep your chin up, everything will be just fine. It's a new school. You'll get what you really need here," Arinao explained kindly.

"I don't want to go to school," Riko muttered sadly, clinging to her school bag, her previous happiness dissipating into thin air.

"How come?" Arinao asked.

"They'll hate me. They always do, no matter where I do," Riko replied softly.

"You're exaggerating. Not everyone is the same as the kids at your old schools. This is a brand new place. I know it'll be hard, but you'll make it through. You always have considering everything you went through. But try to keep your play acting and daydreaming to a minimum this year, okay?" Arinao replied, hoping to reassure her, but she wondered if she sounded condescending instead.

"They're gonna hate her anyway, Dad. Nobody wants to be friends with Riko. She's not normal, unlike me!" Rina proclaimed boldly, with a smug smile and her chubby arms crossed.

"Hey!" Riko yelled angrily, surprised that her younger sister would make such a bold claim. But Rina's venomous words hit her right in the heart, because she knew what she said was true.

"Rina! Watch your mouth! Would you like it if someone told you nobody wanted to be friends with you? Not another word out of you," Arinao scolded.

"Fine…but you know its true…" Rina muttered under her breath.

"Do you have your schedule?" Arinao asked.

"Yeah. It's in here," Riko replied softly, nudging her cotton candy pink backpack.

"Oh! Here it is! Hikaribashi Middle School!" Arinao exclaimed as the car pulled in front of a large, pale grey brick building that looked very fancy.

Riko had to admit, it looked a lot nicer than her previous school, which was rather messy and nitty gritty. This one looked very clean and well maintained, though its structure looked a little unconventional and unorthodox. She had no way of figuring out why, though. The grass in which it stood on looked nice and clean despite being overrun with kids her own age. There was a blacktop next to it, where even more kids played and hung out amongst themselves. That was also something her old school had. However, it's quite cloudy and dreary out, which made the school itself look a little stiff and uninteresting. But she still didn't want to get out of the car, even though she knew she had to. She couldn't skip school lest she be labeled a delinquent, and the experiences she had at her last school were bad enough. She hated school, but she'd be in trouble if she didn't go.

"You have a good day, Riko," Arinao said with a smile. "Remember to keep your chin up and do the best you can."

"Thanks," Riko replied with a bit of a forced smile.

"Don't act weird!" Rina piped in.

"Ri-NA…" Arinao scolded with a warning voice before Riko closed the door to the back seat and hopped onto the grass. With that, Arinao drove away so he can drop Rina off at her own school.

At first, Riko didn't want to go any further. Too many kids were playing, talking, laughing, and already in their own groups of friends. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she talk to someone? But who could she talk to? She doesn't know anybody, and if she did talk to anyone, would they like her or hate her? Riko assumed they'd hate her right off because that's what she's been used to all her life. She really didn't expect to make any friends, only enemies, just for being around. She already wished she was back at home, drawing more pictures of Twilight Cat and cuddling with her pets.

_Riiiiiiiiiing_

Then the bell rang, its sound echoing into the dreary grey sky, which signaled for everyone to go in. Riko went in, yanked out her schedule, and tried to find her assigned homeroom, F9. As it turned out, it wasn't hard to find. It was the third room on her left. Shyly, she opened the door, and she found a classroom full of kids and one female teacher, all of whom immediately turned their heads to stare at her with confusion and curiosity. She was frozen in place by their stares, unable to move. Her face became contorted with blatant anguish and trepidation. Already she wanted to go home.

'_Oh no. They're all staring at me like I'm some kind of mutated zombie who's out to eat them. I can see they think I look like a retard. I wanna go home and work on more Twilight Cat drawings...'_ Riko thought in her head anxiously. She yearned to go home, but she couldn't leave even if she wanted to.

"Everyone? May I have your attention please? As you all know, we have a new friend joining us today from here on. Want to come up to the front and say hello?" The female teacher explained kindly, then asked for Riko to come to the front.

'_No! That's the last thing I want! Just my being here is embarrassing enough as it is! But the front of the class?! Absolutely not!'_ Riko screamed in her head. She wanted to drown. She want to run away as far as she could. She wanted to die. But she knew she'd get in trouble if she ran out of the school. But even before she even walked up to the front of the class like a stiff robot, people already began talking.

"Aw, I can't believe it's a girl! I wanted a boy this time!"

"She kinda looks like a boy, considering how short her hair is."

"She doesn't look too smart."

"Where's she from?"

"Why's she walking like the tin man?"

She turned around and faced the class. She was facing them and they were facing her. Her throat closed up. She couldn't spit anything out, not even a hello. The teacher seemed to get the message and decided to take the initiative by writing her name on the board with a piece of chalk. Tasogare Riko, it wrote.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Tasogare Riko-chan. She and her family moved here from Yokosuka a month ago. She's new here, so help her out when you can, okay?" The teacher told them all, but they didn't seem to be paying much attention to her. Only to Riko, who was already looking like she was about to cry. "Care to say a few words, Tasogare-san?"

She couldn't say anything. All she could do was allow her brain to be consumed by a torrential tsunami of worries and anxieties and questions. Would these kids be different from the ones from her last school, or would they be exactly the same? She assumed the latter was more likely. Would they be her friend, or would they automatically hate her? Would they assume she's stupid just by looking at her? She heard someone say she doesn't look too smart. Would they pick on her? Would they like her? Are they thinking about how retarded she looks, how unfashionable her clothes are, how average she looks, how stupid she is for not wearing any makeup, or a skirt or dress or other ridiculously skimpy clothes every middle school kid she met wears nowadays? She normally didn't care for any of these things, but she knew that these things were considered the holy grail of even having the tiniest bit of normalcy and a social life, though she really couldn't see why, and doesn't want to. Some of the girls looked like they had their own cliques already. Would they call her nerdy? Pick on her just for being here? Start up false rumors about her and convince everyone that they're true when they're not? Riko really wanted to go home. Now. Nothing was coming out of her mouth. The silence was too tense until someone broke it, and not in a very pleasant way.

"Hey weirdo! What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or are you too brainless and stupid to talk?" One girl with short, wavy orange hair, gold eyes, and a rather large, unsightly, and disgusting scar on her left cheek exclaimed in a venomous tone.

"Can it, Asagi!" One red haired, bespectacled boy in a wheelchair yelled.

"You shut up, Four Eyed Cripple!" The girl, Asagi, snapped back.

"Asagi Marina! One more word out of you and you're getting a special one-way ticket to the principal's office, so either behave or be on your way!" The teacher scolded firmly. She then turned to Riko and said in a soft voice, "Feel free to take your seat now. There's one right next to Mitomo-kun."

Quickly, she ran to the empty seat and sat down. Strangely enough, she looked over and realized she's sitting right next to the red haired boy in the wheelchair who yelled at that orange haired girl, Marina. He's probably the one the teacher said is Mitomo. She secretly thought that he looked nice in his dark grey unzipped hoodie, his blue jeans, and green shirt. She was quite surprised by this turn of events. As soon as he saw her looking at her, he looked back and smiled, which made Riko turn her head away and stare down at her schedule, but not before he managed to whisper something to her.

"Don't worry about Asagi. She picks on everybody, me included. Don't feel like you have to suck up to her," The boy whispered in a low voice.

Riko nodded in response, which seemed to be fine with him. She looked at her schedule to make sure everything on it is right.

_Name: Tasogare Riko_

_Schedule:_

_1st Period: Homeroom. Teacher: Omori Seiko (F9)_

_2nd Period: Art. Teacher: Sasamoto Amika (F2)_

_3rd Period: Gym. Teacher: Hanazawa Tsutomu (Auditorium)_

_4th Period: Math. Teacher: Ikari Isao (F9)_

_5th Period: Lunch. (Auditorium)_

_6th Period: Recess_

_7th Period: Science. Teacher: Amane Gendo (F5)_

_8th Period: Health. Teacher: Tsutsumi Shinju (F9)_

_9th Period: English. Oginome Chisaki (F6)_

Once homeroom was over, Riko was able to get to all of her classes on time. It helped that there was more time in between classes and the fact that they're all on the same floor. This eased her anxiety somewhat. She breezed through her first classes just fine, though math was going to take some getting used to, since she hates math and isn't any good at it. But the teacher seems nice, much nicer than her other teachers back at her old school. He'd probably help her out if she asked nicely. She didn't make any friends during this period of time. She didn't approach anyone, as she was too shy and frightened to do so, but nobody approached her either, not that she cared. She did, however, notice some people giving her some dirty looks, like the orange haired girl, Asagi Marina, from homeroom and from a rather plump boy who looked like he lived for about a month eating nothing but McDonald's food.

Then lunch came around. Unlike her old school, where everyone sat at long, large, rectangular tables that folded up, all the tables in the lunch room are circle shaped, and scattered all over the room. But nearly all of them were full other than one, and even then it was hard for her to just get to that empty table since it was so crowded. But she got there and ate her lunch quietly and without trouble. She didn't mind sitting all alone. She was used to it, but what was different was that she has her own space to call her own, and just this made her happy. _'I don't mind sitting alone. Here, nobody will bother me or throw food at me or yell and scream and try to touch me or knock me over or rub against me or get food all over my books. At least this is great! Still a little loud, though,'_ Riko thought happily, smiling to herself as she munched on her peanut butter sandwich. It helps that she's away from the other kids, who aren't even paying attention to her, so she can enjoy her alone time all the more. Admittedly, she did have to cover her ears a little because of kids being loud and rowdy, tables and chairs making screechy, squeaky noises against the floor while being moved, the scratchy PA system, and kids banging on the tables with their arms. But other than that, everything else was fine.

For the most part, school went by without incident until recess came around.

The blacktop was a lot bigger than her previous school, and unlike that one, there were little tables and benches she could sit on. As usual, kids were running around, talking to each other, playing four square, among other things. She was about to sit down and read until she saw the red haired boy in the wheelchair sitting a little further away. But as soon as she saw him, she saw the orange haired girl, Marina, angrily stomping toward him like she was about to beat him up like any other bully would. What was she going to do to him? Should she interfere? Or should she not, out of fear that Marina might beat her up too? She certainly looked strong, like she could take down a gang of middle school boys singlehanded. Riko froze in place and watched as Marina approached the boy from behind, literally knocked his wheelchair over, causing him to fall to the ground, and before he could get up, she smacked the glasses off of his face, bouncing on the concrete. Riko's hands flew to her mouth in horror. The boy, however, wasn't deterred.

"What'd you do that for, Asagi?!" The boy yelled angrily despite being deprived of his eyesight and his means of getting around. The choleric orange haired girl showed no mercy or sympathy.

"This is what you get for not knowing your place and getting in my business, Four Eyed Cripple!" Marina snapped boldly, looking like she's about to step on him. "You're supposed to be an idiot with no thoughts in your head, so know your place, you dummy!" She yelled. Other kids who watched the scene stood around and laughed like they were watching a comedian telling jokes.

'_What? Not knowing his place? Getting in her business? He's supposed to be so backward he can't so much as be allowed to even have thoughts in his head?!'_ Riko was appalled. Her fear suddenly morphed straight into anger. How can this girl be so cruel? How can she be so bold as to knock over a kid in a wheelchair, knock his glasses off of his face, and tell him that just because he's in a wheelchair he's supposed to be so incapable of functioning that he's not even allowed to have thoughts in his head? And nobody's helping him! They're laughing at him instead, like he deserved it! She was not going to let this girl get away with her egregious transgression. No she wouldn't. Without any trepidation at all, albeit a little timorously, Riko stomped over to the choleric Marina and gave her a good shove. It wasn't so strong that she knocked her onto the concrete, but just enough to get her attention.

"Leave him alone! You shouldn't be picking on people or acting like you're their master!" Riko shouted angrily. In her heart, she herself was surprised that she had this much courage, especially considering that she was convinced that if she did anything like this, she'd be the school's public enemy number one.

Marina was surprised, but not deterred. "What's it to you, newbie?!"

Riko didn't know what that meant, but she still kept going. "I saw you push him and say those mean things! Don't you know it's rude and mean to pick on people?! And here you are acting like anyone who's in a wheelchair is supposed to have broken brains!"

Soon, she herself was knocked over. She fell on her rear end, which really did hurt, but Marina didn't care one bit, not that Riko expected her to. "Mind your own business, you freak!"

"Asagi!" The voice of a male teacher exclaimed sternly, causing all of the kids to turn around. The man grabbed Marina's arm tightly and kept a firm grip on her. She was anything but happy.

"Let me go!" Marina begged angrily.

"I've had just about enough of you! It's the first day of school and you're already causing trouble yet again! You are coming with me to the principal's office and that is final, young lady!" The man scolded as he dragged the choleric, wild, and reluctant orange haired girl away from the blacktop and back into the school building.

After that, Riko saw the boy's glasses, picked them up, and held them up to his face. "Here you go."

"Thanks," The boy said as he gently took them and put them on. As he did that, Riko pulled his wheelchair upright and rolled it close to him so he could get in it. She couldn't believe how heavy it was. But then again, it is an electric wheelchair, so those are a lot heavier than manual wheelchairs.

"Do you need help getting in?" Riko asked with concern in her voice.

"Nah, I'm good. See?" The boy said as he pulled himself back into his wheelchair. "Thanks for standing up to her. I wasn't sure if you had it in you."

She couldn't help but agree with him on that last part. "You're welcome. I didn't like how she was treating you, so...I figured I might as well actually do something right for once," Riko muttered shyly. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Nah, I'm good. Not a scratch on me," The boy replied. Riko had a hard time believing that, but she didn't say it out of fear that she might hurt his feelings.

"Glad you're okay. I'm gonna go-" Riko wanted to walk away until the boy suddenly let out a surprised sounding yelp, which made her turn around in both fright and confusion. "What's...wrong? Did I do something bad?"

"No. It's...that book...is that Hinata Sun Child?!" The boy exclaimed, his green eyes wide and bright, though big with shock.

Now it was Riko's turn to be surprised. Someone actually knows about the book she has tucked underneath her arm? She looked at the book, then at the boy a few times before it finally dawned on her. "You...you actually know about this?"

"Of course! I freaking love that manga!" The boy shouted happily, with a big, bright smile making his light skinned face quite radiant.

Riko could feel a big smile being painted on her own face, something that was pretty rare when it came to the subject of making friends. Someone actually knows about the manga she's reading! Someone actually knows about manga in general! Someone who acts and sounds like he actually knows his stuff! Riko could feel joy bursting from within her heart. This could be it.

"...have you read up to the part where she realizes that all the hardship she went through was because of her annoying sister and where she goes to the tower to confront her?"

"Yeah! And that scene where she calls her out on everything and tells her to finally acknowledge her for who she is and not treat her like someone she has to feel sorry for?! God, I love that scene!"

"What about the part where her friend saves her from the corrupted hippocampi?!"

"I'm so sad with how that turned out! I can't believe they killed off Rochelle! She was my favorite! But I love that hippocampi friend she made in that part! Liberty I think was her name?"

It seemed like they went on for hours and hours just talking about Riko's favorite manga and how awesome it is and how sad they were with certain tear jerking scenes and how relieved they felt when certain scenes got executed in certain ways and all of that good stuff. But they only happily chatted about it for just a few minutes before they realized they were rambling. But it was the good kind of rambling, and once they stopped, they burst into laughter. It felt so good to Riko, like she finally found someone she could really call a friend. She had never laughed so much before, and it really felt like she could get rid of the sadness she had before. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her heart.

"I...I've never met anyone who even knew Hinata Sun Child even existed…" Riko said as she calmed down.

"Me neither. You're pretty cool, y'know that? Oh! I completely forgot! Hi! My name's Mitomo Kyoya," The red haired boy, Kyoya, told her after he calmed down, introduced himself, and held out his hand. As soon as she saw him outstretch his hand, she fell quiet, something Kyoya noticed. He drew his hand back. "What's wrong? Not big on handshakes? Are you a germaphobe?"

"No, it's just...I just kinda don't like shaking hands. I'm not trying to be mean," Riko replied shyly.

"It's okay. I totally get it. You are new here after all. Riko, right?" Kyoya said with a smile. _'I wonder why she's looking away from me? Maybe she's still kinda shy?'_ He secretly thought upon noticing that she's not looking directly at him.

"Yeah, I am. By the way...thanks for earlier. Y'know, for yelling at Asagi when she was making fun of me. Nobody's ever stood up for me before," Riko replied.

"Don't mention it. Like I said, Asagi hates everybody, even me. Nobody likes her either, so I can totally relate," Kyoya said. The two children wanted to talk more, but the bell rang, much to their dismay.

"Awww," Riko whined.

"Yeah. Bummer. But it's okay! We can talk more next time!" Kyoya said. Riko smiled and nodded in response.

She couldn't believe her luck. Finally, she found a potential friend! Someone who's actually nice! Someone who actually knows about what she likes, doesn't make a big deal out of it, actually appreciated her nice gestures, and doesn't think she's automatically bad! _'I've been friendless all my life...I wonder if this is all just a dream? It can't be a trick,'_ Riko thought. It almost seemed too good to be true. But he talked to her. He was nice to her. He actually appreciated what she did. He likes the same manga as she does. He didn't pick on her. He stood up for her. She wasn't sure just yet, but maybe, just maybe, she finally found a friend she could call her own.

Riko was jovial and happy through the rest of the day. However, the rest of the school day wasn't entirely pleasant. As a result of the scuffle earlier, Marina's been on Riko's tail. She spilled milk on her head, called her names, and almost stabbed her in the arm with a pencil if one bespectacled blonde girl didn't interfere. Marina was sent to the principal's office yet again for her transgressions. Riko was used to things like this by now, so she wasn't bothered. Kyoya gave her a towel he stuffed in his backpack and dried off her hair. Finally, the final bell rang, and school finally let out. Riko found her mother's car in front and went right in. But Saki clearly looked worried.

"Ri-chan, the school told me what happened. Are you alright?" Saki asked with worry peppering her voice.

"I'm fine. I'm used to it," Riko replied insouciantly.

"Used to it?!" Saki yelped with shock as she drove out of the parking lot and onto the road.

Now that school was over, Riko was happy to finally be back home. But she did notice that they weren't picking Rina up. Saki told her that's Arinao's job. As soon as they got inside the house, however, they were treated to an odd but somewhat interesting sight. Sitting at the dining room table, chatting happily, are Arinao, Hikage, and a girl they never saw before. This girl looked to be about Hikage's age, but Riko couldn't help but think she looked quite pretty. She has medium length, raven black hair tied into a pretty long braid with a blue ribbon at the end, and shimmering blue eyes, just like Hikage's. She is wearing a white and dark blue striped shirt under an unbuttoned, short sleeved, pale blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, a pair of crimson red checked pants, and short, light brown boots. Dangling from her ears are silver hoop earrings that were quite large.

Both Riko and Saki weren't quite sure what was going on. Hikage was the first to see them.

"Hi Mom! Hi Riko!" Hikage exclaimed happily.

"Hikage...who's this girl?" Saki asked, confused and surprised.

"This is my new friend, Minamigawa Hotaru! She totally saved my butt at school earlier today. I lost my school ID and schedule, but she found them and gave them back to me. I found out we share a bunch of classes together, so I thought I'd thank her by inviting her here to stay for dinner. Sorry it's so sudden," Hikage explained. "Hey Hotaru-chan, that's my mom Saki and my little sister Riko. They're super duper nice."

"It's not THAT big a deal, Hikage," The black haired girl, Hotaru, said to him, making him laugh a little. She then turned to them, smiled sweetly, and bowed a little. "It's nice to meet you both. I'm sorry to barge in like this. I won't stay long, I promise."

"Do your parents know you're here?" Saki asked.

"Yes. I told them over the phone," Hotaru replied kindly.

"Jeez, it's the first day and already my son has a girlfriend! And quite a pretty one too!" Arinao exclaimed jokingly, with a mischievous smirk to go with it.

"She's not my girlfriend, Dad! If she was, we'd be in our room making out by now!" Hikage snapped back, which made everybody laugh.

Riko wasn't sure if she would be welcome in something like this, so she tried to go to her room and draw, like she always does. Drawing took her away from the things that made her scared or nervous. It was practically her salvation. But she was bereaved of the opportunity when she saw Arinao approach her with a smile on his face.

"Want to go for a walk?" Arinao asked.

Unlike other things that stopped her from drawing, walking with her dad was actually something she enjoyed. Plus, she wanted to see the neighborhood a little more, with all the pretty, multicolored flowers decking nearly every porch she saw, the people walking their dogs, little squirrels and rabbits hopping around...Riko smiled. "Sure! I'd love to!"

* * *

It's always the same.

The same dirty looks. The same sneers. The same glares. The same angry faces. The same slanted eyes. The same silent faces that said more than a thousand words about what they felt about her. The same blind, obvious hatred that was directed only at her. There wasn't a day in her life where she wasn't stared at or gossiped about, both in and out of school. She couldn't stand it. She had long given up on fighting it, trying to convince them that she wasn't what they assumed she was. She figured there was no end in sight. Was there any? No, there wasn't, not at the rate this was going.

Marina walked home from school, like she always does. She could take shortcuts and hide from the angry stares and the people she wanted to avoid, which was basically everyone in sight. But it didn't help to ease the warring emotions in her heart, fighting each other and clashing like two armies on a battlefield, with no end in sight. She figured there's no way to end the war in her heart, for as long as the hatred endures, the conflict will forever be kept inside, unable to come bursting right out. But she really yearned for the conflict-the emotions she was forced to keep hidden in her heart against her will-to just pop right out, explode like an atomic bomb! She was sick of keeping it all in! But it wasn't like anyone would let her release it. They'd just say whatever they wanted to say, without even remotely listening to her, and just treat her like garbage, like they always did. They'd just act like they knew her better than she herself did, spout nonsense about her that is obviously false, tell her what to do and what not to do, and act like she's should be the bottom of the barrel, the lowest of the low, whose opinions counted for absolutely nothing.

What do they know?

Soon, Marina arrived at a blue and white house, with the name tag Asagi written on a flat piece of wood on the front door. She was reluctant to go in, but this was her home, the only place where she could truly be herself, hide from the hatred and false assumptions of others. This was the only home, the only piece of warmth and happiness, that she truly knew after all. Quietly, she unlocked the door with her brass house key and opened the door.

"Hey Mom. I'm back," Marina murmured in a low voice, but stopped when she looked up to find her mother standing in the living room, with her arms crossed, and her brown eyes looking very stern. _'Oh no. She found out, didn't she?'_ Marina thought fearfully, but took great pains to hide her fear. Her mother, wearing a cream colored sweater and slightly damaged light blue jeans, walked slowly over to her daughter once Marina put her olive green camouflage school bag on the floor.

"Mari. We need to talk," Her mother told her softly but firmly.

Marina looked away, eyeing the very old newspaper lying on the ground, dated 2007, with the big, bold lettered headline _'Serial Rapist Wakita Shouji Finally Arrested and Charged! His reign of terror finally ends!'_ She wished her mother would just get rid of that blasted newspaper already. What's it doing on the stool in front of the coat closet? It's been there ever since she moved in. Why bother keeping it anymore? The last thing Marina wanted was to read more about the man who spawned her. "There's nothing to talk about," She said grimly.

"Don't give me that attitude, missy! The school called earlier today. They said you were picking on a new transfer student and knocked a boy off his wheelchair! I thought you were better than this!" Her mother exclaimed.

"They deserved it! So what?!" Marina snapped angrily. Soon, her mother firmly pressed her hands onto her daughter's shoulders, with a dejected look on her face.

"Marina! This HAS to stop! I know it's been hard for you, and I know how much you want friends. I get that, and I don't fault you for everything the other kids have been saying about you. But picking on people and bullying them isn't going to make things better!" Her mother told her in a worried tone of voice.

"SO FREAKING WHAT?!" Marina finally screamed in her loudest, most abject voice, pushing her mother's arms off of her shoulders, looking like she's near tears. "Nothing I do works, Mom! NOTHING! I tried being nice before! It didn't work! It never did, and it never will! Don't you get it?! No matter what I do, they'll still hate me anyway! They always have, and they always will! I'm not a person to them, Mom! I'm just a carbon copy of him who's going to be exactly like him and do everything he did! It's been like that my whole life! Why else do you think I got this scar?!" Marina screamed hysterically, then proceeded to show her mother the unsightly, gnarled scar on her left cheek. "We're monsters to them, Mom! They're too thick headed to see us as anything more than what they want to see us as! I figure I might as well give them exactly what they want since they're so convinced that I'm automatically bad! Why can't you understand?!"

With that hysterical rhetoric, Marina burst out the front door in tears, leaving the door ajar as she dashed away like a cheetah being pursued by bloodthirsty hunters.

"Marina!" Her mother wanted to go after her, but she then remembered that previous attempts have never worked, usually ending in even more arguments than needed. In the end, she figured it'd be best to leave her alone to sort her feelings out.

Even bullies have problems in their lives. Marina tried so hard to lock her feelings up. It was what was expected of her. Nobody wanted to accept her or listen to her. She was completely ignored by them. Whatever. She didn't want to tell them her feelings anyway. But now the lock had been undone, smashed to pieces by her caring mother's concern, and soon the tears came once she ran fast enough to the point of stopping on a part of the sidewalk and falling to her knees. She didn't care if her black jeans were rubbing against her knees and if she was getting her new brown boots dirty. She didn't care about such petty things like that. She cried into the sleeves of her crimson red hoodie for quite a while.

* * *

"Aren't you concerned about Hikage and that girl?" Riko asked once she and Arinao went out on their walk, taking with them their small miniature Australian shepherd with them.

"Do you mean Hotaru? Hikage's fine. Saki's with them, and Hotaru seems like a very nice girl," Arinao asked. "By the way, you never did tell me how your day went. Other than that girl picking on you, of course."

Riko really didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about school at all. What was the point? Couldn't he get that by now? Why would he ask her about school when she was making it very clear that she didn't want to talk about it? Why do parents even ask this? Why bother repeating her answer? She was sick of it. Sick of being asked the same question every day. Sick of giving them the same answer they always get from her. Sick of expecting something different when it's always going to be the same every single time. Can't they take a hint after all these years? "Can you _please_ stop asking me that?" Riko asked.

"But it's the first day," Arinao replied.

"No. You always ask me that. You always have. My answer's always the same: bad. Every day I get picked on by kids or yelled at by teachers for nothing. It's always the same, just like back then. You know how much I hate school with the force of a thousand bob cats," Riko told him rather bluntly. "Besides, you heard what happened today from Mom, didn't you? It's not like anything's going to change, even if we move."

"We all have our bad days. But didn't anything good happen? You always seem to focus so much on the negative and not on the positive. Surely something good happened," Arinao asked with a smile, trying to sound optimistic and reassuring, though he wondered if he even did that right. But he had to admit, she did have a good point. A slither of guilt crawled into his heart.

Riko really couldn't find anything good about her day, other than the table she has all to herself at lunch. But nobody wants to hear about something as silly and trivial as that. Everybody always wants the juicy stuff, the impossible stuff. Who wants to hear about a stupid lunch table anyway? But, then again…

"There is one thing…" Riko muttered softly, with a slight smile painting her white canvas of a face.

"Really? What is it-Ahh! Yumiko! Stop dragging!" Arinao asked before getting yanked by his dog, Yumiko, who is trying to run off despite his attempts to keep her from running away, even with the leash on. They stopped for a bit so Arinao could get a hold of the hyper little pup.

"There's this boy...in some of my classes. He yelled at Asagi when she picked on me. We found each other at recess, and...he knows about Hinata Sun Child. We talked, and...I don't know for sure yet, but...I think-"

"You made a new friend? That's so wonderful, sweetie! I'm so proud of you!" Arinao exclaimed happily and trapped Riko in a tight embrace once she told him, with joy bursting from his heart like he was the one who made the new friend. Riko couldn't help but find her father's loving arms to be a bit too strong, and gently pushed on his shirt in a failed attempt to pry herself out of his embrace.

"Can't...breathe…" Riko muttered, which prompted Arinao to release her. "I don't know if we're friends or not. All we did was talk. But...he was nice."

"Sorry, sweetie. It's just I know how desperate you've been to have friends and how hard it is for you to make them, and considering all that you had to endure, you really deserve to have at least one friend. If you keep this up, you might be surprised to have finally made your first friend-guh! Yumiko! Wait!" Arinao explained until Yumiko decided to literally drag him away from her because she saw something she really wanted to sniff. Good thing Arinao is desperately clinging to her leash. Riko couldn't help but laugh.

But she had to admit, he was right. Kyoya would truly be her first ever friend.

Or would he?

After chasing Yumiko and a surprised Arinao, Riko stopped when her hypersensitive ears picked up on a sound she didn't think she'd hear so quickly.

"Mew…"

"A cat?" Riko asked herself as she looked around to find said cat...only to find that, and something else.

Standing in front of a bench was Marina, looking down at an empty box that's on it...but it wasn't really empty. As Riko silently looked closer, she saw Marina pick something up from it. A kitten. A very small, weak looking, but clearly alive kitten. An adorable little bundle of grey fur with darker grey stripes, frisky little whiskers, snow white paws like socks, and stunning blue eyes. But what surprised her was that Marina was actually being kind to the little grey kitten. It'd be another story if it was another person, someone who's actually kind and nice by nature. But this was Marina, the loud, rowdy, cruel tomboy who picked on her, knocked Kyoya out of his wheelchair, and called him Four Eyed Cripple. She even went as far as to tell him that he should be a retard just because his legs don't work. How could a bully who picks on people possibly be kind to animals? This was quite an alien concept to Riko, whose black and white views already dominated her very being.

"What's up, Riko?" Arinao asked once he caught up with Riko and got Yumiko under control, but he too looked toward Marina once he saw Riko staring at her rather intently, with a confused look on his face. "Who is she? Do you know her? It's not polite to stare."

"That's...Asagi. The girl who picked on me," Riko muttered.

Arinao's eyes widened with surprise. But he grew even more so when Marina started talking to the pint-sized volcano of cute mews.

"Poor thing. I'll bet some idiot abandoned you. I'd love to take care of you, but I don't think Mom will let me. I don't blame her, considering what I've done," Marina told the kitten in a soft, almost kind but dejected voice, something that surprised Riko even further. Marina is actually using a soft, dulcet tone of voice? In school she yelled louder than everyone else and spoke rudely to everyone, even the teachers from what she heard from the other kids.

Arinao continued to wear his shocked look, but forced himself to be silent out of fear of scaring them and ruining their tranquil moment. This is the girl who picked on his daughter? He almost couldn't believe it at first. He almost thought Riko was lying about this girl being Asagi. But he knew that Riko never lied about anything unless it was about trivial and petty stuff, like sneaking cookies out from the cupboards.

"I wish I was a cat. You cats have it easy. All you do is meow, eat, run around, play with toys, chase mice, and sleep," Marina told the kitten softly, but with complete abject dejection in her quivering voice. Riko softly took in a breath when she saw some tears stream down Marina's cheeks, shining in the sun's light. The orange haired girl's shoulders hunched up and down a few times as she made sniveling sounds.

Riko found her heart going out to the orange haired girl, cruel as the latter was to her. Arinao felt the same way. They couldn't help but wonder if something is bothering her, causing her to cry like this. She has to have some kind of reason. But this did tell Riko one thing: Marina isn't all bad. If she was, she wouldn't have been so nice to that kitten. Their thoughts were interrupted when Yumiko began barking at the sight of Marina and the kitten, probably out of curiosity. Yumiko isn't one to chase kittens out of hunger. She chases everything, mostly because she just wanted to see them, sniff them, and play with them.

"Yumiko! Shh!" Arinao bent down to Yumiko's level and cupped his hand over her snout to keep her from barking again. Unfortunately, Yumiko's barking already caught Marina's attention, and her gold eyes already fixated on Riko. She was frozen in place. Marina wanted to run. The kid she just picked on is now watching her play with a kitten, who, oddly enough, wasn't bothered by the commotion.

"...you...you didn't see or hear anything!" Marina stammered, her face turning red like a tomato, acting like she had been caught doing something bad.

"Do you like kittens?" Riko managed to blurt out. This calmed Marina down a little, and Arinao had released Yumiko's muzzle by then.

Marina looked away sheepishly. "Yeah. So what?"

"I like kittens too. They're nice. I have two cats at home. Their names are Reese and Caroline," Riko said with a smile.

"How long?"

"Huh?"

"How long were you standing there?"

"A couple minutes, I think."

"You heard everything, didn't you?"

"Kinda. We didn't mean to."

"Is your name Asagi Marina?" Arinao interjected calmly.

"You her dad? Yeah, that's me. I picked on your kid. Just punish me and get it over with. It's not like I have anything to lose," Marina asked insouciantly, then confessed her transgression.

Riko expected Arinao to get mad, yell at her, or go nuts, like he usually would with people who picked on her. But she was surprised to find that he didn't. He's surprisingly calm and collected, with a soft, sympathetic expression on his face. This was very unusual, as he's only calm when something good is happening or if he's trying really hard to hide his anger, and she knew from experience that if he was angry, he was a force to be reckoned with. In a way, she kind of wished he'd yell at her and beat her up.

"No. I won't yell at you or punish you. I'm sure your mother has done that already. That's what good parents do. They discipline their children and teach them right or wrong. But I don't think you're a bad person. That kitten clearly likes you, and animals have a very strong sense that tells them which people are good or bad. If that kitten likes you, then you can't be an entirely bad person. Don't think I'm condoning what you've done to my daughter. All I want to know is...why do you pick on people?" Arinao told her calmly.

Silence permeated the atmosphere except for the kitten's mewing and an occasional loud bark from Yumiko. After a while, Marina confessed with a sad, abject glint in her gold eyes.

"...I gave up long ago. Even if I'm nice, kids still hate me, all because they're convinced that I'm gonna be a gang banger or drug dealer or murderer or rapist just like that idiot who spawned me. To them, I'm not human, just his spawn. I'm not one of them, they say. They think I'm straight up bad, and they won't listen when I tell them I'm not, so I finally gave up. I figure if they treat me like a villain, then fine! Let me be a villain! It's what they expect of me since I'm his spawn, so why the heck not?!" Marina started off soft at first, then screamed upon finishing. After that, she took the kitten and ran away.

Arinao and Riko didn't even chase her. But Riko thought one thing: _'I don't think you'll be like him, whoever he is.'_

* * *

"He's gaining on us!" The light blue fairy yelled as she and her three sisters were flying over the Earth's atmosphere as fast as they possibly could. Zenjin, only a little bit behind, shot black rays of energy at them every chance he could. The fairies, being as small and agile as they are, successfully managed to evade them all. But they knew they couldn't do this forever. They'd run out of energy soon, and they've managed to enter the Earth's atmosphere.

"We can't run away forever! We have to contain him somehow!" The pale purple fairy exclaimed.

"But he's too powerful! We can't possibly contain him!" The pink one whined.

"We have to do something! Come on, girls! Let's do it!" Sunbeam yelled boldly.

"Die, you vermin!" Zenjin yelled as he saw the fairies stop in their tracks. He saw this to be the perfect opportunity to kill them once and for all. He fired two black rays of energy at them. They were big, so he couldn't see whether he killed them or not.

He let his guard down right then and there.

Suddenly, without warning, he was surrounded by something sparkly and yellow. He tried to fly further, but he found himself against a wall. He looked around to discover that he's trapped in a yellow sphere, with the four fairies surrounding it from the outside on all sides. They trapped him in a sphere-like barrier, keeping him from getting out.

"We're not letting you go to Earth, Zenjin!" The pale blue fairy shouted.

"Nobody's ever escaped our barrier, so don't even think you can even attempt to break free!" The pale purple fairy backed the blue fairy's claim.

"Don't falter, girls! One wrong move and the barrier will break!" Sunbeam told them.

But it didn't even matter if they even did anything or not. For just a moment, Zenjin was silent and immobile, but still very much awake. However, as they tried to move the barrier, Zenjin himself was consumed by an ominous, malicious black light. Suddenly, out of nowhere..._BOOM! _A black, fiery explosion consumed that part of the atmosphere. Shards of golden yellow glass fell far down into the Earth. The four fairies, injured and unconscious, fell to the Earth like fallen angels. So did Zenjin.

* * *

"Ugh! I can't believe I told them!" Marina exclaimed, her embarrassed face red as a beet, as she found herself running into a little clearing in the woods, though not too far in, with the kitten safely squirming in her hands. Of all the people she had to run into, it just had to be the new girl she picked on earlier. What a downer. But once she calmed down and caught her breath, she could feel something warm and unfamiliar embracing her broken heart, and it wasn't the furry little kitten rubbing itself against her chest either.

A tender glint appeared in her eyes as she watched the kitten squirm in her hands. "That's a first. They were actually nice to me. They didn't act like I was supposed to be him, like everyone else in school did," Marina whispered softly to herself.

"Meow!" The kitten's loud mewing pulled Marina out of her trance, and she couldn't help but smile as the kitten rubbed itself against her like it was happy to see her. _'Wow. This is the first time anyone's ever been happy to see me. Yeah, it's a cat, but...it's better than nothing, right?'_ Marina thought, her previous embarrassment dissipating. She hoisted the kitten in the air happily.

"You're a cute little thing, y'know that? Oh. You're a girl. I dunno if I'm allowed to keep you or not, but if I could adopt you, I'd name you Fern, like the girl in Charlotte's Web," Marina told it with a smile.

"Mew!" The kitten meowed happily, like it took a liking to the name Fern.

The trees rustled rather loudly right then and there, but Marina didn't notice at first because she thought it was some birds or squirrels hopping around. But a loud thud made Marina and the kitten jump a few steps back in shock because of how unusually vociferous it was. But Marina became timorous once she saw exactly what made the thud sound: a boy of about fifteen lying right in front of her, collapsed on the grass. But he didn't seem to be unconscious, as he was grunting and moaning a little.

"Oww…" The boy hissed.

'_Okay...who's this kid? Why is his hair white? Why does he have a fancy crown thing on his head? And what's with the weird get-up? Is he cosplaying or something?'_ Marina thought timorously as she clung to the kitten with dear life, afraid he might be a crook. She didn't want to take any chances. The boy soon got back on his feet, wiped some leaves off of his silvery hair and shirt, and looked around aimlessly, with a curious yet somewhat malicious glint in his eyes. Marina was unsure if she should say anything or not. Should she ask if he's alright? Would he reject her offer, or would he accept it? He didn't look nice, and Marina's had enough run-ins with violent people. But it didn't even matter, because without warning he turned around and noticed her. The kitten hopped out of Marina's hands as soon as the two made eye contact.

"Umm...you okay?" Marina choked out at last.

"Who are you supposed to be?" The silver haired teenager asked with malice dripping in his low voice. "Your heart tells me you are suffering."

"Wait...what?" Marina asked, confused by what he just said.

"Hmph!" Then, out of nowhere, a purple orb of energy surrounded his left hand. He swung his hand at her, and a purple and black beam of light hit Marina, sending her flying out of the woods, hitting a part of a house. Marina clung to the kitten with dear life, hoping it wouldn't get hurt. Thankfully, the kitten was safe in her arms. But then something strange happened. Something popped out of Marina's body, but it wasn't blood or anything of the sort. A strange, mirror-like object with a golden rim surrounding it appeared before the boy. The middle part of the object, which should be glass, is instead a mass of swirling colors moving around like someone mixing colors on a paint palette. As soon as Marina opened her eyes, she saw the object in front of her.

"Okay...what the freak is this thing?! And who are you?!" Marina yelped with fright as the boy walked in front of her, his eyes fixated on the mirror-like object floating in front of her. The kitten popped out of her arms and ran to a little bush to hide.

"Huh. Is this one of those Soul Portals I've heard so much about? Might as well check and see," The boy said to himself as he loomed in closer to Marina.

"Don't come near me, you slime!" Marina exclaimed as she pushed the Soul Portal away and managed to punch the boy in the face so hard that he coughed up some blood. Marina got up and tried to make her escape, surprised to find that the Soul Portal is following her like a baby duckling.

But the boy was not happy with this development. "Stay still, you trash!" He yelled, his eyes glowing in a bloody red light. Out of nowhere, a red wall appeared right behind Marina, and glowing yellow ropes wrapped around both her wrists and ankles, pulling her to the wall and keeping her there, with the Soul Portal floating right in front. The silver haired boy caught up to Marina as she struggled to break free. Nothing she did was any good.

"Let me go, you idiot!" Marina pleaded angrily as she continued to struggle against the glowing restraints the closer the boy walked.

* * *

"_I figure if they treat me like a villain, then fine! Let me be a villain! It's what they expect of me since I'm his spawn, so why the heck not?!"_ Marina's tearful words continued to echo in Riko's mind as she sat in her new backyard with her sketchbooks, drawing a picture of a tearful lime green kitten being laughed at by normal colored kittens, with angry, malicious smiles drawn on their catty faces. After a while, Riko stopped to think more. Her face became painted with a touch of sadness as she thought about Marina and her confession in regards to why she picked on not just Riko, but anyone else who crosses her. In her little heart, Riko really wanted to hate Marina, since she acted just like the kids who picked on her in her other schools. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. After hearing her confession, she just couldn't blame her for everything she'd done. Arinao and the teachers at school did a good enough job of calling her out on it. But another thought was swimming in Riko's mind like a tadpole.

'_Are people really so dumb as to think kids are going to be exactly like their parents no matter what? And think that they're only bad just because people they're related to are bad? God, people are so dumb! My parents are the best people around, yet everybody hates me just because I'm weird...'_ Riko thought as she continued drawing to try and take her mind off of it. But it didn't work. Her motivation to draw any further just seeped right out of her. She put down her lime green colored pencil and decided to put all of her colored pencils away.

"I guess everyone has people who hate them for stupid reasons," Riko muttered to herself softly as she put the rest of her colored pencils away. Right then, the big dogwood tree in her backyard rustled quite loudly. Unlike Marina, however, Riko turned to look, alert and attentive, because that tree never rustled. Soon she found out why it rustled. Two small objects, an orange thing and a light purple thing, fell out of the dogwood tree and onto the grass. Curious, Riko put her sketchbook down and very slowly ambled over to see what they are.

At first, she thought they were stuffed animals, but upon further rumination, two little stuffed animals couldn't possibly make that big, thick dogwood tree shake the way it did, especially considering they're the size of her sketchbook. She very slowly approached one of them and decided to pick up the purple one. It looked like a cute little stuffed bunny rabbit with very soft, pale purple fur, long, straight ears with the rounded tips of them being light blue, a pale blue ribbon wrapped around its neck with a silver crescent moon on it, a silver crescent moon hair clip on its left ear, a cobalt blue crescent moon on its back, and a little tail with cobalt blue stripes and a silver crescent moon at the end of it. The stuffed animal itself is extremely small, so tiny and small that it could easily fit in one whole hand perfectly. The same with the orange one. _'What is this thing, and what's it doing in my backyard?'_ Riko thought to herself. Then she noticed that there's quite a lot of fresh, red scratches on it, like...blood.

Real blood.

Stuffed animals aren't supposed to have blood in them. Only the white stuffing.

Then, out of nowhere, the stuffed animal...or pseudo-stuffed animal moved! It wiggled around a bit and literally opened its sterling silver eyes! Riko was trapped in an iceberg of confusion and shock, unable to move, unable to react other than with a surprised face.

"What the…?" The little purple rabbit murmured in a sweet, soft voice like fur on a newborn kitten. Then it suddenly screamed, "Oh no!"

Riko, perturbed by the living stuffed animal's shouting, let go of it and covered her ears in fright. The pale purple rabbit looked around frantically, like it was looking for something. "Starbeam?! Lovebeam?! Where are you?!" It shouted desperately, like a mother whose child went missing. Then it looked down at the orange thing. "Sunbeam!"

'_Starbeam? Lovebeam? Sunbeam? What are these things?! Stuffed animals can't talk! Wait! Are they some kind of cute animal fairies? Like in those anime and manga?'_ Riko thought fearfully as she watched the desperate sounding purple rabbit fly over to the unconscious orange thing it referred to as Sunbeam. The little thing is a brilliant shade of orange, like the autumn leaves, with soft, plump ears that made little curls at the ends, colored sunshine yellow. It has a bright yellow sun hair clip on its left ear, a crimson red bow wrapped around its neck with a yellow sun jewel that looked exactly like the hair clip, a yellow sun on its back, and a little tail with yellow stripes and a yellow sun on the end of it. The purple rabbit floated onto the grass and shook her friend tearfully and shouted in a desperate, pleading voice, "Sunbeam! Wake up! Tell me you're alright! Please! Wake up!"

Riko, despite her initial but understandable fear, confusion, and anxiety, couldn't help but feel sorry for the little purple rabbit thing. It's voice sounded genuinely desperate, and her worry for her friend, Sunbeam, was quite obvious from the way she violently shook her friend. The fear and confusion from before quickly morphed into concern. She still covered her ears because of the purple rabbit's shouting, but she decided to not let it throw her off. She walked over to the worried purple rabbit and her unconscious friend. She gathered her mettle and decided to overcome her confusion.

"Umm...are you okay?" Riko asked like she would any other person. Much to her surprise, it actually caught the little purple rabbit's attention. The purple rabbit turned around to face Riko, then gasped with shock, like she saw a ghost.

"A-A-A-A-A human! I've been exposed!" The purple rabbit shouted fearfully.

"Do-Don't be afraid, little one. I'm not gonna hurt you," Riko told her as gently as she could muster, using her most dulcet voice, afraid to scare the poor little purple rabbit even further, though it must be confessed the purple rabbit's scream actually scared Riko quite a bit. Thankfully, it worked. The purple rabbit calmed down somewhat, though Riko could tell she's still worried about her unconscious orange friend.

"You're not? You're...not afraid of me?" The purple rabbit asked sweetly.

"No. Why would I be? You're so cute! But you do look really hurt. What happened to you?" Riko told her, then asked what happened to them.

"Urgh…" Before the purple rabbit could answer, a moaning sound made them both turn around to see the little orange pseudo-stuffed animal trying to get itself on its feet. It rubbed its head weakly. "Oww...I feel like I just got hit by a giant tree…"

Immediately, the purple rabbit burst into tears. "SUNBEAM!"

"Wah!" The purple rabbit glomped the orange creature, Sunbeam, so hard that she yelped and fell to the ground again, but she didn't fall unconscious this time. At first, Sunbeam seemed quite dazed. It's not surprising, since she just woke up and was just glomped by a purple rabbit as soon as she did so. After doing a little bit of crying, the purple rabbit calmed down and released Sunbeam.

"Moonbeam...what happened?" Sunbeam asked the purple rabbit, Moonbeam, calmly at first. Then a light bulb flashed in her head. "Oh no! Zenjin! What happened to him?! Where is he?! Did he escape?! Where's Starbeam and Lovebeam?!" Sunbeam shouted hysterically as she tried to fly away and look for them, but a jolt of pain struck her in her lower back, rendering her unable to fly. "Irk!"

"Don't push yourself so hard, Sunbeam. You're really hurt," Moonbeam told her. Sunbeam was about to tell her otherwise until she spotted Riko.

"A human! We're exposed!" Sunbeam shouted with fear, causing Riko to cover her ears in fright again.

"It's okay, Sunbeam! She's not afraid of us!" Moonbeam told her reassuringly. Sunbeam didn't look like she believed her.

"Umm...if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? You look like you took some really bad beatings," Riko asked shyly.

"Ow!" Sunbeam croaked as she tried to move again, but pain overtook her frail little body.

"You're worse than I thought," Moonbeam murmured sadly.

"I'll go get some band-aids and ice," Riko said as she ran into the house, grabbed a small pack of band-aids that hadn't been opened, and yanked a pack of ice out from the freezer. She also grabbed some paper towels and tape. Once she closed the freezer door, she ran back outside to find Sunbeam and Moonbeam where she left them.

"I've never done this before, so sorry if it turns out kinda sloppy or if I mess up," Riko said as she started putting band-aids on both Sunbeam and Moonbeam's many smaller scratches, trying to be extra scrupulous to make sure she didn't wind up exacerbating their pain. After that, she put the pack of ice on Sunbeam's back, wrapped the paper towel around it, and put some tape on it to keep it in place. Soon, both Sunbeam and Moonbeam became all patched up despite the slightly cursory job Riko did. "It's better than nothing, right?" Riko said once she finished.

"Thanks so much, miss...uh…" Moonbeam glowed with happiness and wanted to thank her, but she became flummoxed as she didn't know her name.

"Riko. Just Riko," Riko told her.

"Thanks, Riko-chan!" Moonbeam chirped happily.

"Uhhh...you make me look like I got hacked in a blender," Sunbeam piped in.

"Sunbeam! That's not something you say to someone who helped you! Say thank you!" Moonbeam scolded, appalled by Sunbeam's slightly caustic response to Riko's care.

"It's alright. I'm used to it. Don't worry about it," Riko said, looking like she actually expected that kind of response from her.

"Sorry!" Sunbeam exclaimed. "Thanks...Riko, was it? Yeah, thanks."

"Anyway...what're-" Riko was about to ask them what happened again until something very unexpected bereaved her of the opportunity to do so.

A screeching, vociferous, bloodcurdling scream. It was so loud, it made Riko cover her ears again.

"Someone's in trouble! It could be Zenjin's doing!" Moonbeam exclaimed.

"Riko-chan! Come with us to see what's up!" Sunbeam shouted.

"What?!" Riko shouted herself, surprised by Sunbeam's suggestion. "But...I've never left the house on my own before! My parents said I should never go out on my own!"

"She's right, Sunbeam. We can't drag her into this. Zenjin's too powerful," Moonbeam said. More screams followed.

"But we can't just sit here! Come on, Moonbeam! We've gotta stop him!" Sunbeam yelped as she darted out of Riko's arms and flew into the trees, with a reluctant Moonbeam chasing her.

Riko was left all alone in the backyard with conflicting feelings. Should she go after them? The little pseudo stuffed animals said that they're up against someone powerful named Zenjin, and from the way they talked about him, he sure didn't sound like a nice guy. But she's never gone out on her own before, and her parents gave her strict orders not to go out at all. The back and front yards were always the furthest she ever went in her whole entire life. But Moonbeam and Sunbeam were tiny little flying animals, and they were injured, Sunbeam being worse off. If this Zenjin guy is really as powerful as they said he is, then there would be no possible way for them to defeat him, especially considering the extent of their injuries. Not only that, someone is obviously in trouble. Sure, she wouldn't know how to do anything to help, but she couldn't just leave them to get hurt even worse or potentially die at his hands.

"AAAAGH! I can't just sit here! I'm going in!" Riko screamed, ran past the dogwood tree, and into the direction she remembered seeing them go in.

It didn't take long for her to catch up to Moonbeam and Sunbeam, as their injuries made them rather slow and unsteady, which was perfectly understandable in Riko's book. Surprisingly enough, it took just as much time to find out exactly who was the one screaming and what the heck was going on. As soon as they found the source of the screaming, they hid behind some trees, horrified and downright appalled by what they witnessed.

Marina's strapped to a giant wall.

She is screaming. Protesting. Struggling for her life.

Someone's looking into a mirror-like object which is right in front of her.

"That's Zenjin! What's he doing?!" Moonbeam yelped softly, trying really hard to lower her voice so Zenjin doesn't notice her.

'_That's Zenjin?'_ Riko thought as she stared at the guy looking into Marina's...whatever it is he's looking into.

"Wait...no! Is he looking into her...Soul Portal? The ones the Queen always told us about?!" Sunbeam said with trepidation.

Riko couldn't believe what she was seeing. _'What the-?! Why's that guy hurting Asagi?! What the freak is he doing to her?!'_ Riko thought fearfully. Now she had reason to NOT hate Marina anymore. From the way Marina screamed and struggled and writhed like a worm, she looked like she was being brutally sexually assaulted. Soon, the culprit, Zenjin, pulled his face out of her Soul Portal. Marina stopped screaming, but she felt quite worn out, like she had given birth. She's still very much awake.

"What was...that all about?!" Marina croaked out angrily, giving Zenjin her usual choleric glare. He paid no heed.

"I've seen all I need to see about you. Your dreams, your desires, your insecurities, your suffering, your deepest, darkest secrets, your most private thoughts, everything else," Zenjin told her in a low voice. Then, with his crimson eyes blazing with undiluted hate, he unabashedly...spat at her. A glob of spit fell on her face. In retaliation, she spat at him, but her own spit didn't land on him. Regardless, he grew angrier.

"You're pathetic, you trash! How dare you be so bold as to think you're suffering from a mountain of woes!" Zenjin yelled as he raised his hand in the air. "Let me be the one to show you...my suffering is far greater than yours will ever be!"

Then, as soon as he said that, he drove his hand into the Soul Portal, causing Marina to howl and scream louder and harder than ever before. She felt as though her entire body, her entire being, was being violated and ripped apart from the inside and out. It felt as though all of her internal organs were being forcefully yanked out of her body by a gigantic UFO catcher claw. The feeling was the same as when he stuck his face in, only far worse. No amount of words could possibly describe the pain she's in and how unbearably excruciating it is.

"I can't watch!" Moonbeam whimpered as she squeezed her eyes shut and covered them with her long ears.

At first, Riko was scared. But after seeing what Zenjin is doing, her fear turned into rancor. She was appalled. No, more than appalled. Downright horrified, but in an angry way. How can this Zenjin guy, whoever he is, be so cruel to someone? It didn't matter if the person he's hurting was someone who picked on her for kicks. Yes, she did deserve some punishment, but not if it means hurting them to such a horrible extent, possibly killing her, if whatever he's doing to her _can_ kill her. Riko found herself able to move, her anger causing a tsunami of courage to course through her veins like a flooding river.

Riko couldn't stand by and watch her suffer anymore.

"Wait! No!" Sunbeam yelled.

Zenjin smiled as he was about to pull his hand out from Marina's Soul Portal, when suddenly he was viciously pushed to the ground by a great force. However, that force turned out to be a very choleric Riko.

"Leave her alone, you pedophile!" Riko screamed as she successfully rammed herself against him like a football player and managed to push him off of Marina. What she didn't know was that in Zenjin's hand is an orange orb that is very slowly turning black, like a rotting egg, and that the wall and restraints holding Marina disappeared, causing her to slump to the ground like a dead person.

Marina lay there, dormant, with her wide eyes still open. She looked deathly pale, her face pasty white like snow. Neither Zenjin nor Riko noticed.

"Get off me, you insolent piece of trash!" Zenjin screamed as he tried to force Riko off of him with his hands, but she just wouldn't relent. They hissed, hit, kicked, bit, and struggled until Riko managed to slash a part of Zenjin's face with her long fingernails.

Enough to draw some blood.

That's when Zenjin snapped.

"YOU SLASHED MY FACE!" Zenjin screamed with the loudest voice he could muster and fired a black and purple beam of energy at Riko, causing her to be thrown against a tree. Like Marina before her, she slumped to the ground, too injured to react.

"Riko-chan!" Both Moonbeam and Sunbeam exclaimed with horror as they saw Riko get thrown against the tree.

Zenjin walked over to the injured Riko with a very stern and choleric look on his face, not realizing that the orange and black orb he yanked out of Marina's Soul Portal fell out and rolled onto a part of the street. Riko saw him coming toward her and she tried to get away, but her injuries made her too slow to move fast enough, and Zenjin came too fast for her to move away.

However, nobody was prepared for what he would do next.

Without any mercy, Zenjin lifted up one of his feet and viciously kicked Riko against the tree. Very hard. Riko cried out in pain, but it didn't end. Zenjin kicked her like he was abusing a newborn puppy. Twice. Thrice. Four times.

"You're trash! You don't deserve to exist, you trash! You're born trash and you will die trash!" Zenjin yelled as he continued kicking her without any hint of guilt or remorse peppering his pale, white, malice-painted face.

"Don't you think...I know that?!" Riko shouted as she suddenly grabbed Zenjin's leg and pushed him to the ground, face up. Soon, the two began fighting amongst themselves again like they were at school.

"We've gotta help that girl!" Sunbeam exclaimed, pointing to the unconscious, dormant Marina.

But before they could do anything, the orange orb that Zenjin successfully yanked out of Marina finally turned black. After that, an ominous black light enveloped it, then shining so bright that it caught everyone's attention, Riko and Zenjin included, bereaving them of the opportunity to rip each other apart further. Then, the glowing orb increased in size. It grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger until it was about the size of an elephant. Riko was disgusted to see that the more Zenjin started at the glowing light, the more he smiled like a mad scientist.

"Yes! Yes! YES! I've actually corrupted a human's soul! I wonder if I turned it into some super cool monster or something!" Zenjin exclaimed like he just won a prize at a festival. Riko couldn't believe someone could display such sociopathic, guiltless glee at seeing someone suffer...or whatever was appearing in front of them right now.

Soon, once it reached the size of a fully grown elephant, the light dissipated and out came...a big, black, red eyed, nine tailed fox with long ears, a long nose, and slender legs. That's it. The gigantic fox is entirely black save for its eyes. Once Zenjin saw the creature, he spat at the ground.

"Pheh! I expected something cooler and more threatening!" Zenjin yelled angrily, disgusted by the fox's appearance.

'_Wait! He enjoys watching people suffer and expects his creation to be perfect, and then decides it's not worth his time?! Seriously, this guy's a psycho!'_ Riko thought. She couldn't help but wonder how she was even able to remotely comprehend everything that's been going on. But fear overtook her once again as the gigantic fox almost stepped on her. She would have been squashed like a bug had she not run for her life.

"What's with the giant fox?!" Riko yelled frightfully.

"We don't know! This is the first time we've ever seen something like this!" Moonbeam exclaimed.

"RUUUUN!" Sunbeam yelled as the fox tried to step on them again. But soon, it wasn't paying attention to them anymore. The fox used some of its tails to knock some trees over, one of them destroying a part of a house that was nearby, and another tail completely smashed a house to pieces all together. Soon, Riko found herself, Sunbeam, and Moonbeam hiding behind a tree. She's covering her ears and shaking violently, unable to move.

"We've gotta stop that thing!" Sunbeam yelled.

"But we're powerless! We don't even know what it is, nor what its capable of!" Moonbeam told her frightfully.

Riko couldn't say anything. She was frozen, shaking like a leaf. The noises were attacking her all at once, and she was powerless to block them out. People screaming, houses being destroyed, trees being knocked down, the ground shaking, the sound of the fox's steps, the foxes anguished roars, it was as though she was being swamped by a tsunami of vociferous noise. She couldn't move at all, no matter how much she wanted to.

"Make it stop...make it stop...please...no more…too loud..." Riko muttered sadly, like she was about to cry at any moment.

Then she heard something else. Something that didn't hurt her ears.

"_Is it really so freaking bad?!"_

Riko's eyes flew open, and she found herself able to move again. She stood up and peeked from behind the tree, curious as to what she heard was real. Yes, she could still hear, even with her ears covered with her hands.

"Did you guys hear that?" Riko asked the fairies.

"Yeah, we did!" Sunbeam piped in.

"_Yes. It's true. I am his daughter. But...I never wanted to be his daughter! We can't choose our parents! Just because my dad's a stupid deadbeat gang banger and rapist doesn't mean I'm going to be exactly like him! They should be hating just him, not me! And you wonder why I'm mean to people, 'cause they're mean to ME!"_ A hoarse, choked, robotic sounding voice shouted abjectly.

Then it hit Riko.

Marina said that. Or rather...the fox that came out of Marina's Soul Portal.

"_Why does everyone think I'm going to grow up to be him no matter what?! Why can't they understand and see me for who I am?! Why are people so dumb as to just assume I'm gonna be him no matter what?! Why won't they listen to me?! Why does everyone think I'm bad?! What did I ever do...to deserve this?!"_

"That fox...could it be...Asagi?" Riko asked in a whisper as she very slowly uncovered her ears.

Then, yet another tsunami of courage overtook her, and she suddenly ran toward the gigantic fox...or the manifestation of Marina's sadness and suffering, not realizing that Zenjin is watching the fox wreak havoc with glee.

"Sure! Even if you're trash, you still do a good job at wrecking everything!" Zenjin laughed wholeheartedly but maliciously.

"ASAGI!" Riko, with her hands still covering her ears, yelled once she got close enough to the gigantic fox, who's so busy knocking a tree over that it completely ignored her, like it couldn't hear her.

Zenjin did. "Hey! Get outta my way, you trash! I wanna watch this!"

"She can't be serious!" Moonbeam yelled from afar.

"Asagi! Please don't do this! Zenjin or whoever that silver haired guy is corrupted you! I don't hate you because of your dad! I only hated you because you were mean to me and Kyoya! So what if your dad's a bad person?! So what if everyone thinks you're gonna be him?! Screw them! You're not him, and they shouldn't expect you to be him either! They don't know you!" Riko yelled as loud as she could. Soon, the fox turned around to look at her.

"_They don't know me...yet they act like they do. They always act like they know everything about me when they really don't! I hate that!"_ The fox said.

"I totally get that! Believe me, Asagi! I know what it's like to be hated by everyone for something you can't control!" Riko shouted. An image of a younger version of her appeared in her mind, cowering in a corner of some orange, sun-basked classroom, crying and sobbing helplessly and loudly while two adults yelled at each other a little further away.

"_You need to control that brat of yours! I've never seen such a troublesome, ill-behaved child! The worst I've ever seen, even! It's obvious you don't discipline her correctly!"_

"_She's not misbehaving! You're the one allowing the other kids to pick on her and yelling at her, saying stuff like, _"Why can't you be normal?! You're so stupid, you retard!"_! She's autistic, not some heartless bully, and you're supposed to be supporting her and helping her, not putting her down and telling her she's worthless and encouraging them to hurt her! There's a difference between misbehaving and being overloaded and overwhelmed, y'know?!"_

Then she saw another one of a younger version of herself being chased by other kids, some of them even throwing rocks at her with glee on their round little faces.

"_Retard retard retard!"_

"_What's wrong, retard cat?! Gonna pretend you're a cat super hero again?!"_

"_We don't like retards like you walkin' 'round on our turf, yo!"_

"_Dirty freak!"_

"_Why don't you grow up already?! You're too old to be playing pretend games! And you wonder why you don't have any friends!"_

Moonbeam and Sunbeam watched from afar, surprised that Riko is standing her ground against the gigantic fox, completely unarmed and vulnerable. It's likely Riko doesn't even know the first thing about fighting or how to defend herself. But despite being completely vulnerable and powerless, Riko still had it in her heart to at least try and talk to the giant black fox even though danger could befall her at any given moment.

Then, out of nowhere, one of the Heart Lighters that Queen Malgorzata gave them earlier suddenly appeared right in front of Moonbeam. The purple Heart Lighter to be more precise. Then, out of nowhere, the purple, star shaped perfume bottle glowed in a radiant purple light.

"Wha-What's happening?!" Sunbeam yelped with surprise. "Open it!"

On command, Moonbeam twisted the heart shaped cap on the Heart Lighter and pulled it out, allowing the light to leave the star shaped perfume bottle and fly right in front of Riko like an annoying house fly. As soon as it flew in front of her, the light shone brightly in front of Riko, causing her to cover her eyes due to its sheer radiance.

"Too bright!" Riko exclaimed.

"What the...the Heart Lighter's reacting to her!" Sunbeam exclaimed with surprise.

"The Queen said...the Heart Lighters only react to those whose hearts resonate with them…" Moonbeam said. Then, with a courageous look on her purple little face and the Heart Lighter in her arms, she flew over to Riko, who is still covering her eyes.

"Riko-chan! Grab the light!" Moonbeam told her.

"Why?!" Riko yelped.

"Just do it!" Moonbeam exclaimed.

"Okay okay!" Riko snapped as she grabbed the light in with one of her hands while squeezing her eyes shut. Then, as soon as she grabbed the light, it dissipated. Riko, seeing that it's safe to open her eyes, opened them and looked at what she caught in her hand. Much to their surprise, the light turned into an extremely tiny purple heart object with a cotton candy pink cat face on it. Then, the Heart Lighter itself glowed in a purple light. Only for a little bit though, but instead of making something new, a huge chunk of the perfume bottle disappeared, leaving a hollow hole on it shaped like a heart.

"Riko-chan! Put that little jewel onto the hole here!" Moonbeam said as she floated toward Riko to show her the Heart Lighter.

Riko, without any hesitation or fear at all, did as asked and put the purple heart shaped object into the hollow area in the Heart Lighter. As soon as she did it, a purple light shone brightly from the Heart Lighter, much brighter than anything else before it, causing Moonbeam to hand it to Riko. Not only that, it's much bigger, and it completely enveloped Riko.

Riko didn't have any time to react, or even scream, as she got completely swallowed up by the purple light. But as soon as she woke up inside the light…

"Pretty Cure, let the light shine!" She shouted as she held the Heart Lighter in the air. The heart object dissolved into the perfume bottle, not only filling in the gap, but filling the bottle with a kind of translucent lavender liquid.

Riko spun around in circles and sprayed it all over herself. As soon as the perfume made contact with her normal clothes, they changed completely! Instead of her light purple shirt and brown shorts, she found herself donning a sleeveless purple and white shirt with purple diamonds going down the chest part, along with some lacy white frills on each side of them, along with a pair of darker purple shorts about the same size and texture as her normal shorts. A large, dark violet ribbon appeared on her shirt with a shiny lighter purple diamond on it. On both of her arms are armbands with white lace frills and diamonds circling them. A small, pale purple, blanket-like cloth with darker purple pockets on each side wrapped around her waist, with the ends connected to the front by a purple diamond belt-like decoration. Her shoes are now purple high tops, with lighter purple diamonds on them, and little pairs of white wings on each of them. Not only that, purple cat ears and a tail with pale blue stripes on it appeared on her head and rear end. Even more surprising, her hair turned purple, albeit still at the length it's always been. Fingerless, dark purple gloves appeared on both of her hands. A little dark purple diamond appeared on her forehead. The Heart Lighter dangled from her shorts like a little keychain. Soon, the light surrounding her dissipated, bringing her back to Earth.

Moonbeam and Sunbeam couldn't help but stare in awe at Riko's spectacular transformation. "She's one of them! She's a Pretty Cure!"

"What the…?" Riko muttered in shock once she got a good look at herself. "Umm...why am I cosplaying? Why is my hair purple? Oh! Wait!" Riko exclaimed with a smile this time, as soon as she saw the cat ears and tail on her. "I must have transformed into some kind of superhero! I have cat ears and a tail! Just like Twilight Cat! Yeehee!" Riko cheered jubilantly like a happy fangirl. "Oh, but I'm not really Twilight Cat, am I?"

"You're a Pretty Cure now, Riko-chan!" Moonbeam told her cheerfully.

"A...Pretty Cure? Like the anime?" Riko asked, confused. Then something else dawned on her. "But...but I don't know how to fight at all! I can't defend myself to save my life! What if I end up destroying everything?! I might mess up more than I resolve things! Meow!" She panicked hysterically. Her cat ears twitched in response to her realization.

Before the fairies could reply, a malicious laugh came right out of Zenjin's mouth as he sat on a tree watching everything. "Bwahahaha! God, you were trashy before, but now you're even trashier than ever!"

"Oh shut up, Zenjin!" Sunbeam yelled.

Riko couldn't believe what was going on. She was surprised she was even able to comprehend everything. Fairies appear, some random bully attacks Marina, takes her soul, morphs it into a giant fox which turns out to be the manifestation of Marina's insecurities and suffering, and now she's transformed into a magical girl heroine destined to save the world, just like in her favorite anime. How did she even manage to handle all this weirdness happening at once without bursting into tears, like she usually does? She really wanted to cry right now, but she refrained from doing so, knowing that there are far more important matters at hand, and crying wouldn't solve them one bit. _'I'm not sure if I can be a good hero. I'll probably do more harm than good, like everyone always says...but someone's gotta stop this Zenjin guy and help Asagi. I can't just stand by and watch. People could die. Someone's gotta step up,'_ Riko thought as she stood in front of the fox again, who was about to knock over someone's house while its inhabitants ran away in fear.

"Halt, ginormous fox! Cease your slaughter at once! Poor soul, you have been consumed by darkness and are suffering. Fear not, for your suffering ends here! Meow!" Riko edicted proudly, like any superhero would, though she had to wonder if it sounded forced. "I am the light that will brighten up your world!" She struck a pose, making her hands look like cat paws. "Cure Twilight!"


	2. What Happened? Riko Gathers Intel!

Chapter 2: What happened? Riko Gathers Intel!

Not once did Riko think anything like this could ever happen to her.

Yes, she dreamed of becoming someone everyone could admire, like a super cool magical girl with a magic wand or a super hero saving damsels in distress, or at least someone who could do something good and be liked for it, but the possibility of all of those things ever happening was pretty much below negative infinity to her. Everyone she knew always told her that she's too stupid and retarded to ever be someone anyone could admire, even if she spent her whole entire life polishing herself into what they consider someone to admire. They said nobody who obsesses over drawing and living in a fantasy world or pretending to be a cat could ever be someone anyone could admire for who they were..and she believed them. All of what they said was true. What could she do? She didn't know how to contradict them back then, and possibly couldn't do so now.

Yet, here she is, transformed into a magical girl heroine just like in her favorite manga and anime, fighting a monster who happens to be the manifestation of Marina's insecurity and suffering, created by some crazy white haired psychopath kid (who she could tell was Hikage's age) who takes massive sociopathic glee in making people suffer. The evil villain in this real life shoujo manga or anime. She's the hero, he's the villain, and as far as she could comprehend, it was now her responsibility to make sure the monster is contained and that the people in her town are safe. Her chance to be someone people can admire had actually arrived, and she had long given up on the notion long ago, before she could even cultivate the thought. There was no way in Heaven or Hades that Riko was dreaming. She touched everything with her own hands. She felt their solidity. She saw everything with her own eyes. Her senses are sensitive, so she would have been able to tell if they were real or not.

She wanted to ruminate some more, but the voices of a very quickly amassing crowd dragged her out of her reverie.

"Whoa! What's that giant fox thing?"

"And who's that weird girl in purple?"

"Record this, will you?!"

"It's too dangerous! She needs to get away!"

"Is that fox gonna eat us?"

"We gotta run for the hills, pal!"

"Tell me they're filming some kind of movie."

"What movie is this?"

"Does this LOOK like a movie to you?! I don't see any cameras or a film crew around, do you?!"

"Someone call the police, my God!"

"Don't we need to evacuate?"

"Why does she have cat ears and a tail? This isn't a costume party!"

Their voices unknowingly attracted the fox's attention, who decided they were annoying in the form of attempting to squash them with two of its large tails.

"No!" Riko yelled. Soon, she found herself flying toward the crowd faster than she could normally do on her own. She stood in front of the frightened crowd and vigorously grabbed hold of the two tails. She was surprised she could even grab them at all, let alone be strong enough to not get squashed by them. Not only that, she realized she was actually standing her ground against something that weighs much more than she does. _'Okay, how the heck am I able to stand here and cling to this thing without getting thrown around? I'm scrawny and my muscles are supposed to be weaker than a worm! Heck, I'm supposed to be weak as a lab mouse!'_ But she knew she couldn't focus on the changes happening to herself.

"Everyone!" She yelled as she turned toward the awestruck but frightened crowd. "Run away from here as fast as you can! I'll handle things here! Hurry and get away!" She felt unsure of that last part, but someone had to do something. Why couldn't she? She's here now, so she felt obligated to at least try to reassure the people and take care of the fox-like monster.

"You heard the purple freak! Let's move it!" One woman said as she grabbed her child and ran from the chaotic scene as fast as she could. So did over people. Riko exhaled a sigh of relief knowing that the people know to run from a dangerous situation.

As soon as the crowd dispersed, Riko found herself being lifted into the air. The fox is lifting one of its tails. With a swish, Riko found her grip gone, and she found herself flying toward a tree. "YEEEK! I'm flying! Somebody get me dooown!" She screamed in a panic as she found herself flying toward a tree, unable to stop herself. She feared she would break all of her bones, but then her legs moved on their own, and her feet made contact with the bark on a branch. She wobbled and struggled to maintain her balance, but in the end, she didn't fall.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Phew! I survived! But I wish I had some kind of weapon or attacks or something!" Riko murmured to herself as she leaped onto a branch like a bob cat. Then, much to her surprise, a long set of starkly silver, shining, razor sharp claws, like those of Wolverine, appeared from her purple gloves. "Whoa! Claws!" She exclaimed with shock as they appeared. But there was no time to be shocked.

"_They can all die for all I care! They think I'm gonna be just like him, so I might as well give them all what they've been clamoring for!"_ The fox, Marina, croaked as it ran toward Riko, who oddly enough, wasn't afraid at all.

"Be careful, Riko-chan!" Moonbeam advised.

With a majestic leap, Riko leaped toward the giant fox with her claws out and ready to slash. "Cat Slash!" As soon as she came close enough to the fox's face, with great speed, she slashed and scratched and hacked at the fox's face like she was expertly slicing piping hot ramen noodles the way an anime style professional chef does. The fox hissed and howled as it found its face covered with scratches. But Riko wasn't anywhere near done yet.

"Twilight Kick!" Extending her right leg out and folding her left one, she gave the giant black fox a kick so strong that it actually fell onto at least three houses, destroying them and knocking over quite a few trees. Once she got back onto the ground, with her ears covered due to the noise, she couldn't help but be irked by the destruction she unknowingly caused.

"Ack! Sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I...I hope everyone's alright! Nobody's in them, right?" Riko asked fearfully, her eyes full of guilt and worry for knocking the giant fox onto those houses. But what scared her even more was whether people were inside. If they were...she didn't want to fear the worst. She hoped the worst didn't happen. If it happened, she'd have to go to jail, and more than anything, she did not want to go to jail.

"I'll go check," Sunbeam said as she went to examine the destruction. After a couple minutes, she came back out. "Nobody's inside, so you're good!"

Riko exhaled a sigh of relief. "Phew. If people were in there they might have died. Glad they evacuated, and usually nobody listens to me. But why did I manage to leap so high? I usually never go that high. Ever. And how am I able to sit on a branch without falling? And why am I suddenly stronger than usual? Or better yet, why am I strong at all when I'm supposed to be weaker than an ant?!"

"Hurry up and purify the monster! If you do, Marina will be back to normal!" Moonbeam exclaimed. "Oh! Check those pockets on the shawl around your waist!"

"Do you mean these?" Riko asked as she rummaged her hand through her left pocket and pulled something out. A small, purple, circle shaped object with a big hollow cavity, with a gold stripe going all around it and a pink, glittering, heart shaped jewel on the bottom part, which soon grew to the size of Riko's sketchbook as soon as she pulled it out. "How do I use this?"

"All we know about the Pretty Cure's weapons is that you have to concentrate all of your energy into purifying the monster and relieving it of its suffering, banishing the evil and bringing the light back into their hearts," Moonbeam explained.

"I don't quite get it, but someone's gotta do something, and I'm here now, so I might as well get this done and over with!" Riko exclaimed as she listened to Moonbeam's explanation.

Zenjin, who continued to watch from atop a tree, laughed like he was watching Comedy Central, only the situation going on around him was not funny at all. Especially not to Riko, the two talking stuffed animals, and everyone else who evacuated the scene. "Do you seriously believe a piece of worthless, meaningless trash like you can purify my creation?! Oh, my ribs are killing me! You'd be better off in a nuthouse! You're way over your head, trash!"

"Oh shut up, you psycho!" Riko snapped.

"You shut up!" Zenjin snapped back petulantly, like he was being scolded by an overbearing parent trying to protect him from every single bad thing in the whole world.

"I don't have time for this," Riko said in an exasperated tone, annoying by Zenjin's malice and callousness as she walked over to the fox, who is proceeding to knock over more trees with its claws this time. Her mettle blazed strong, like a torch in the darkest of night. Her eyes were ablaze with courage, showing not one little spec of fear.

"Asagi Marina! You don't need to do this anymore! It's okay to be sad about what you went through and to hate everyone! It's natural to take your anger out on them, even though it's not something to be approved of! You don't deserve to be hated because your dad's an idiot! I know you're not him! You're way better than he'll ever be! But causing all of this destruction isn't going to make things better!" Riko yelled.

"_So? It's not like anything else worked! I gave up long ago!"_ The fox snapped back angrily. _"There's no hope for me!"_

"Yes there is! Let me help you! Let me...bring the light back in your heart!" Riko exclaimed.

She held the giant purple ring in the air and yelled in a booming voice, "Lend me your strength, holy light!" The purple ring glowed, and she pressed her hand on the heart, causing it to glow. "Twilight Ring, Power Up!" She yelled as she gripped her giant ring with both hands.

"You needn't suffer anymore. The corrupting darkness will be banished, and the light in your heart will shine again! Twilight Serenade!" With that, a large ray of purple light shot out from the ring and completely consumed the giant fox that is Marina's insecurity and suffering. The lavender hued light consumed the fox in the shape of a tornado. It swirled around rapidly, like a fast moving whirlpool. The fox itself turned white, and then dissolved into nothing but a white light. The purple tornado dissipated, and out came a white light which floated into Riko's hands. As soon as it made contact with her soft, tender palms, the white light faded to reveal an orange glass orb with a white light glowing faintly inside of it like the kind of glass balls you find at a fortune teller's place.

"This must be what he yanked out of Asagi-san," Riko said.

"Careful! That's her soul he yanked out. Be EXTREMELY careful with it, as it's very fragile. If it breaks, the person it belongs to will die!" Moonbeam told her.

"Can't have that happen, now can we?" Riko asked as she very scrupulously ambled over to the unconscious Marina, her Soul Portal still bare and exposed, hoping to not drop the extremely fragile and vulnerable orb she's holding in her tender hands. She withdrew her claws before she used the Twilight Ring so she didn't have to worry about them breaking it. The kitten mewed at her to wake up, to no avail. Riko couldn't help but find it surprising that the helpless little kitten stayed with Marina this whole time, like it was her bodyguard despite being so weak and vulnerable itself. She had to wonder why it didn't run away from all the commotion going on, as kittens are normally very scared of things like that. Hissing at them from afar, Zenjin teleported away, disappointed by this very unexpected and irritating outcome.

But as soon as she got close, she very slowly and gently let the orange orb fall into the Soul Portal. It dissolved into the Soul Portal, and the mirror-like object faded away. But much to everyone's relief, the color in Marina's face returned like she had never been unconscious, and her goldenrod eyes peeled right open as soon as the Soul Portal disappeared. Even Riko couldn't help but feel an intense tsunami of relief consume her, and she never thought she'd ever be happy for someone who picked on her earlier today. _'She's okay! Thank God! I'm so glad I saved her in time!'_ Riko thought as Marina pulled herself up, feeling her head pulsate.

"Ugh...what happened to me…?" Marina groaned as she woke up, placing a hand on her forehead like she's having a migraine. Then the memories of being attacked by Zenjin came back into her mind like an oncoming train. "Oh! Now I remember! Some white haired idiot attacked me and this mirror thing came out of me and he said something about how his suffering's greater than mine and-and-and…" Then she looked at Riko, still Cure Twilight, her gold eyes wide with confusion, flummoxed by the presence of a purple cat girl in her midst. "Who are you?"

"You're right. Someone attacked you. But don't worry. I drove him off so he won't hurt you anymore," Riko told her calmly. However, on the inside, her insides are doing backflips and she wanted to run away. She didn't dare show these insecurities though, as she figured it'd make Marina feel unsafe. She then stood up and crossed her arms proudly. "Anyway, I'm the hero Cure Twilight. I admit, I'm just a newcomer, but if you ever need my help, feel free to give me a call!"

Marina smiled, like she was about to laugh at her, which embarrassed Riko a bit until it turned out she wasn't going to laugh after all. "Thanks for saving me, Cure Twilight or whatever. But you kinda need to work on your power control," She piped in, noticing the destroyed houses and the trees that fell on the street rather haphazardly.

Riko was about to ask what she meant until she looked around and noticed the destroyed houses. "I know. I totally didn't mean to do that," She slapped herself in the face. "I'm such a stupid idiot…"

Moonbeam and Sunbeam, who hid in the same tree Zenjin did just after he teleported, watched with exasperation. "Awww! She just had to go and tell her she's Cure Twilight! She's such a loudmouth!" Sunbeam complained.

"But Asagi doesn't seem to know she's Riko, so it should work out so long as she doesn't find out who she really is. Besides, other people have seen her, so I don't think it'll matter either way," Moonbeam told her exasperated sister reassuringly, glad to see some good in this weird situation.

"And speaking of other people, look!" Sunbeam exclaimed. Moonbeam looked down and gasped.

A whole crowd of people is right behind Riko, and she doesn't even know it. But another thing Moonbeam saw made her feel uneasy.

Some people are looking at her with flaming red faces, like they saw the worst thing imaginable.

Their faces clearly reflected what they felt. Some people were gossiping to themselves, wondering just what the heck just went on.

"Is that a monster that girl just got rid of?"

"I don't know! I'm at least glad we're safe, though."

Others just sprinted from the scene screaming, back to the comfort of their hopefully not destroyed homes. "My house isn't destroyed, is it?! Our house is fine! We just turn the corner and it'll be right there, the same as always!"

One person yelled right out loud, "MY HOUSE! MY HOUSE IS DESTROYED!" before falling to her knees and wailing for the amassing crowd to hear.

One person ran right up to Riko and proceeded to throw a tiny stone at her head, managing to successfully bonk her on the head with it.

"Ow!" Riko exclaimed when she felt the blow to her head. She turned around and saw the crowd of people staring at her. She stopped once she saw what was on their faces.

Hate.

It was too familiar to mistake it for something else.

"Do you realize what you've done, you arrogant, self-absorbed brat?!" One man in a dirty work suit asked, unabashedly pointing to the three completely destroyed houses that got crushed by the fox after she kicked it. "Families just lost their homes because of you!"

"Yeah, you freak!" Another kid yelled.

"Hey!" The kid's mother exclaimed, clinging to the child's shirt. "We do NOT call people names!" She yelled before dragging him away, appalled by his behavior.

"How are you gonna pay for this, huh?! Do you know how much it costs to rebuild houses these days?!" Another woman shouted angrily.

"Hey hey hey! What's with you people?!" Marina yelled in shock once she stood up, but the angry crowd paid her no heed and continued to go on their individual tirades. Even she was appalled by their inopportune behavior. Riko's eyes grew wide with fright and fear. Their loud voices pounded on her ears, inundating her ear drums and refusing to let up. Everyone's angry voices meshed into each other, creating one big bombast of noise that she wanted to get away from as quick as possible, but she's frozen with fear and disbelief.

"The people who lived in those houses are homeless now! They gotta live in a shelter!" Another man shouted. The yelling and the insults continued.

"It's all your fault! Why'd you have to deprive them of their homes?! Huh?!"

"I'll bet you did that to show off and pretend to be some sort of hero!"

"Fumihiko, please!" One woman exclaimed as she clung to her husband's sleeve, her face a mask of concern and worry. "I'm sure she didn't mean any harm-" But of course, her concern got drowned out by the anger of the majority.

"We don't want you here if this is what you're gonna do on a regular basis!"

"Rebuild their homes immediately! Oh, yeah! That's right! You can't! Because you're stupid and selfish!"

"Go away, you freak!"

"You're a menace to our city!"

"You'll get us all killed!"

Riko couldn't understand why they were yelling at her. Yes, she knew she unknowingly destroyed three houses and definitely felt guilty about that. But questions were running through her mind like a roller coaster on overdrive. Why are they making a big deal about it? Aren't they happy the entire town is saved? Aren't they happy their lives have been spared? Shouldn't they be happy that the fox is gone? Why are they making it sound like she destroyed the houses on purpose, and out of malice, no less? That was not her intention at all! There was no way she was going to let them believe their delusions.

"Please, listen to me! I didn't mean to destroy those houses! Honest, I didn't! I was just-" Riko tried to explain it to them, but the yelling got louder, causing her to cover her ears in fright. More stones got thrown at her. It was blatantly obvious that these angry townspeople have ZERO interest in listening to her or the truth, just their own overblown delusions that they refuse to accept as false. They aren't even giving her a chance to explain herself! Granted, she did see some people soften up and try to stop the others from ranting, but the angry ones didn't listen to them.

"Get out of our town, you imbecile!"

"Yeah, and leave that girl alone!"

"You must have attacked her 'cause you felt like it!"

'_Why won't they listen to me?! They say they want the truth but they won't even let me tell them what really happened! This always happens with me!'_ Confused, frightened, overwhelmed, heartbroken, and drowning in a sea of sadness, Riko ran away from the scene at top speed, which was far above her normal speed. The townspeople didn't even bother to chase her.

"Riko! Come back!" Moonbeam yelled as she chased after Riko while Sunbeam stayed behind due to the extent of her injuries.

"That's right! Run away, you selfish coward!"

"Yeah! We don't want you here!"

"Dirty freak!"

"How dare she be so cruel as to deprive good people of their home?!"

"I don't think she meant to..."

On the sidewalk, Marina, with the kitten tucked away in her arms, was absolutely appalled and flabbergasted. From what she remembered, Cure Twilight just saved everyone, her included, from a gigantic black fox. Sure, some houses got destroyed, but they should be happy their lives got spared. For that matter, if that fox was allowed to wreak havoc, the entire town could have been destroyed. They should be exalting Cure Twilight and lauding her and for her heroic actions and magnanimous altruism. They should be extolling her for her courage and treating her like a celebrity. Yet...here they are making her out to be the villain instead, and kicked her out like she was a skunk. They're treating Cure Twilight like a pariah and aren't even thinking about everything that happened, just the fact that three houses got destroyed and that the people living in them are now homeless. Sure, Cure Twilight could have handled the situation better, but it wasn't like she meant to destroy those houses, nor did she have any intention of getting them all killed in the first place! She was only trying to help! They never even gave her a chance to explain herself! Why won't they listen? Why do they think she's bad just because of something she had no control over? They should be yelling at Zenjin for his transgressions and asking him for indemnity and reparations, not Cure Twilight.

And to think Marina thought she had it bad.

"You guys are all a bunch of brain dead idiots!" Marina screamed in her loudest voice, which finally managed to stop the townspeople from deriding Cure Twilight some more. "She just saved your sorry butts from a giant monster and this is how you thank her?! By flipping out about a bunch of houses being destroyed?! My God, you guys are so freaking stupid! So what if three houses got destroyed?! You should be happy none of you got freaking killed! And besides, if that fox didn't get taken care of, the entire town would be dead meat, not just those houses! Haven't you ever thought about that?!"

"But didn't she attack you?" The man who threw the first stone at her asked with a flummoxed look on his face. Marina couldn't believe someone asked that, furthering her disgust.

"No! She didn't! Some white haired kid attacked me! She saved my life, and all of yours, too! You should be happy that she saved you, and here you go treating her like a pariah just because she handled it a little haphazardly! She didn't mean to destroy those houses! It was an accident! She was just trying to help! You guys have some nerve ostracizing someone for saving your lives! Why can't you actually think a little and get your facts straight instead of jumping to wild and crazy conclusions like the brain dead idiots you are?! You need to listen a little! It's not that hard!" Marina yelled. With that piece of rhetoric, she walked away with the kitten squirming around in her arms. Sunbeam left as well, surprised by everything that happened.

The crowd was left alone, silent, soaking up Marina's words. She had a good point. Some people actually softened up and spoke after the confusion passed.

"Maybe she's right. Perhaps the purple girl didn't mean any harm," One woman said calmly.

"She did save our lives after all. It could have turned out much worse," Another person piped in, agreeing with the woman. Some people already began walking away, wishing they hadn't seen any of that craziness.

"Man, that was awesome!" Another kid shouted. "That girl totally beat that monster down! Is she a super hero or something?"

"Shh! We're going home now, Kanba!" The kid's mother exclaimed as she dragged her excited son away from the scene.

But what Marina didn't know was that far away from the townspeople, hiding behind a tree that is still standing, is Minamigawa Hotaru, who watched the entire scene with a strangely calm kind of surprise.

Yes, she saw everything.

* * *

In another dimension not of this world, surrounded by pitch black darkness, with a couple little stars twinkling here and there, a floating fortress that's completely grey, black, white, and red floated aimlessly in the spacial cavity, with no destination in sight. Zenjin appeared and walked inside, heading for his headquarters, which was actually his room. Midnight blue walls, a golden table with shiny gold chairs with comfy red cushions, a black bed with a white canopy dangling over it like a bride's veil, and grey pillows donned the room, looking extremely gaudy and out of place in this sterile environment. Zenjin plopped onto his canopy bed, annoyed by how much he embellished it and Cure Twilight's unexpected interference.

"Gah! That stupid piece of trash just HAD to get in my way! Those fairies and that kid are gonna pay for crossing me, the great and all powerful Zenjin!" Zenjin exclaimed petulantly, like a little kid who didn't get dessert or a new toy like promised. But once he magically healed the scar on his face with his newly acquired powers and calmed down, he ruminated about what just happened. He discovered the Soul Portal, grabbed Marina's soul and everything in it, corrupted it, and made it turn into the giant black fox. He was pleased with the destruction it caused, as he could honestly care less about the people of Earth, or the Earth itself for that matter.

"Those creatures...they're my creation, aren't they?" Zenjin asked himself in a low whisper. Then he sat up on his bed with his legs crossed in a pretzel style and donned a big smile on his face. "I see! I created those monsters, and since I have the honor of creating them, I should come up with a name for them!"

It didn't take long for him to come up with one. It appeared right on the tip of his tongue, as soon as he remembered what he did to actually create them, from making the Soul Portal appear to seeing what corrupting someone's soul can do.

"Human Trash. Yes, that's PERFECT! The Human Trash!" Zenjin laughed as he said the name he decided to give to his new creations. "So this is also what the Energia can do, huh? Awesome! Not only can I destroy worlds, I can turn people's suffering against them and make them into pariahs! Ha! That'll teach them to think they have it worse than me!" He exclaimed boldly.

"Oh wait! But then again, I don't know if my power is limitless or not, so I should try testing it out some more just to see if my creations vary in shape with every soul I corrupt. This should be a nice little experiment after destroying 80% of that stupid saccharine land called Rozaniela," A dark, malicious, cat like smile formed on his pale face, with nothing but rancor and glee dripping from it like a broken pipe. "I can finally show these pieces of trash what it's like to REALLY suffer and feel like the entire world is against them! And if I'm ready, I might even be able to...track her down and give her the comeuppance she oh so deserves!"

No. He definitely wasn't going to concede defeat or let them win. No he would not.

* * *

Thankfully for Riko, as soon as she stepped into her backyard, her Pretty Cure outfit disappeared, and she was back in her normal clothes. She ran into the house and zipped into her room as quickly as she could. The sky was just beginning to turn orange so she wasn't out late. Once she made it to her room, she plopped onto her bed and buried her face in her soft, fluffy pillows and stuffed animals. Oh, how she yearned to cuddle something soft, fuzzy, tender, and sweet. How good it felt to be surrounded by soft, silent stuffed animals, away from the yelling and screaming of angry, closed-minded mobs. Moonbeam and Sunbeam came in soon after, with flummoxed but dejected looks on their faces.

"Thank God, it's over!" Riko said, feeling more exhausted than she ever felt before, her voice muffled by the pillows. Moonbeam floated over to Riko with a concerned look on her face, noticing that she looks quite dejected. She couldn't blame her after the inappropriate and rude way those townspeople reacted.

"You were awesome out there. Yeah, you did do it a little haphazardly and you should have handled your powers a bit better, but you at least stopped Asagi's spirit from destroying everything else and killing everybody. Great job!" Moonbeam told her reassuringly.

But Riko's reaction wasn't anything that the two fairies expected. As soon as she stopped saying that, she began to hear whimpering...which soon ballooned into full blown crying.

Riko wailed into her pillow passionately, muffling her vociferous, heartbroken cries. Sunbeam and Moonbeam looked at each other with confused faces, surprised by Riko's reaction.

"What's wrong? You saved everyone!" Sunbeam asked worriedly.

"They hate me! They all do! Just like everyone else I had to put up with! Even when I do nice things for them, they still think I'm bad through and through just because I'm weird and retarded and don't do everything perfectly! And they don't even listen to me when I try to tell them what really happened! This always happens! I should never have expected it to be different here!" Riko wailed into her pillow, allowing her tears to make dark, wet marks on the surface of them.

"Don't be sad, Riko-chan! I'm sure they'll come around. Besides, I saw Asagi yelling at them for what they did. She defended you, Riko," Sunbeam told her reassuringly, becoming quite cowed by Riko's passionate crying and pessimism.

"No they won't. You don't get it. Anyone who comes into contact with me hates me and always does forever and ever. It's always been that way. I do anything at all, and all they do is yell and scream and say I'm a bad kid even when I try to be good and do what they say. It'll never change, no matter what I do or where I go," Riko cried.

"Yeah, well, that's their problem! Yeah, you did kinda go overboard and destroyed those houses, but nobody was in them, so their lives are safe! Besides, it's not like you wanted to kick the fox into them, now did you?" Sunbeam exclaimed audaciously, surprised at how personally Riko is taking the citizens' hatred toward her.

"No. But they don't care about how I wanted it to go. They just care about the fact that I'm around and get in their way and ruin everything, just like everybody else did," Riko snapped back while burying her face deeper into the pillow. "I can't even be a good hero, I'm so stupid and retarded!"

"You're not retarded! Don't ever use that word! That's a bad word! And you're not stupid! Zenjin's the one who's stupid! He's the one who hurt Asagi and turned her soul into that fox creature. The townspeople ought to hold Zenjin responsible for his actions. He's done far worse," Moonbeam explained calmly, keeping her voice to a dulcet level so as to not scare Riko any more. She's had a rough day. They've all had one.

"Ugh! That Zenjin! I oughta punch his lights out! We went through all that trouble of raising him on Rozaniela, yet he just ups and destroys it! He needs to be held accountable for what he's done. I knew something was up when he wasn't responding to our love and care...but to think he'd go this far...and we never noticed!" Sunbeam shouted angrily, with a twinge of rue peppering her voice. "I wish we had seen this coming! Then we would have been able to stop him from stealing the Energia and everything else!"

"None of us saw it coming, Sunbeam, so we're all at fault here. Don't blame yourself. We don't know what he's planning for this world, and we can't do much about it now, especially in our condition. Let's rest for a while so we can at least have enough energy to go out and find Starbeam and Lovebeam. Besides, I think Riko needs some time alone to have a good cry. Don't you think?" Moonbeam told her sister kindly but sadly. Sunbeam could tell that even she's dejected and sad about everything that happened. But what could they have done? They're just tiny little stuffed animal-like fairies. Zenjin has all the power in the world, and he could easily defeat them. That, and they really needed some rest.

"You're right. Let's hang around here for a while," Sunbeam said as she hid underneath Riko's bed. Moonbeam followed suit.

"Be sure to be quiet when people come in. Riko's family might be frightened when they see stuffed animals talking and walking and flying. They might think we're trying to hurt them," Moonbeam told her.

"I know, I know," Sunbeam said as she retreated further under the bed. "Still, I can't believe Riko's a Pretty Cure. Exactly what makes a person capable of becoming one? I wonder if we'll finally find out."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Moonbeam said.

It took about fifteen minutes for Riko to stop crying, which was admittedly rather surprising to Moonbeam and Sunbeam, as they expected Riko to go on for a lot longer, like one or two hours. During that time, Riko cried out all of her sadness, her woe, the sorrow caused by her own incompetence and the townspeople's' rejection of her despite saving their lives. She wished she wasn't so stupid, clumsy, and incompetent. She wished she did a better job at actually saving the town from Marina's corrupted soul. She wished she could be a good hero, not someone who messes up all the time. True, this was her first time, so a little failure was to be expected, but Riko's so used to failure and everyone berating her for whatever she failed at to the point of making her cry that she had to wonder if she was even capable of doing anything perfectly right at all. Soon, her chest began to hurt from too much crying. She fell silent for a while, and then grudgingly pulled her head out of her tear soaked pillow. She found she left some huge marks on it, but who cares? It's her pillow, so she can do whatever she wants with it.

Once she pulled herself up and sat on her bed, she wiped the tears away with her arms. Immediately, questions began running through her mind like a race car in the Indy 500. Who was this Zenjin guy? Why is he so cruel? Is he an alien? Why does he take such sociopathic glee in making someone suffer and show absolutely no guilt or remorse for what he's done? Shouldn't he be held accountable for his actions? Why did corrupting Marina's soul turn it into a gigantic, frightening, pitch black fox creature the size of a full grown elephant? What's a Soul Portal? Why does someone's soul look like one of those glass balls clairvoyants use when telling fortunes? How was she able to become a Pretty Cure? What exactly is a Pretty Cure anyway? She knew it was an anime, and she had even seen a few of the series, including a few episodes of the new one that's airing right now, but she never expected to become one, not even in her wildest dreams. Pretty Cure are supposed to be fiction. Why has she become one? And how in the world did she manage to jump ten feet in the air and punch and kick that giant fox like she was a pro when she's supposed to be too weak to even jump higher than a foot or punch a punching bag, or even a pillow?

Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by Saki coming into the room. "Riko-chan! Dinner's ready," Saki told her.

"Okay. Thanks," Riko said. As soon as she said that, she heard a rumbling sound coming straight from her abdomen. Perhaps fighting Marina's corrupted soul really sapped the energy out of her. Riko was certainly hungry, so she decided to go down and eat dinner. It's a good thing Saki made something she liked: salisbury steak with rice pilaf and corn. There were green beans too, but she doesn't like them. Hotaru, still at the house, told the Tasogare family about something funny that happened when she was little, and they laughed wholeheartedly, like she was already a member of the family.

But something about this raven haired girl made Riko feel a little tense. For some reason or another, Hotaru often glanced at Riko like she suspected she was hiding something. Normally, Riko is averse to eye contact, but she can tell when someone's staring at her in a way she doesn't like. She couldn't quite understand why, though. Does Hotaru like her? Or does she not? Does she think she's pretty or ugly? Riko really didn't want to think about that. She did, however, suspect that Moonbeam and Sunbeam might be hungry. _'I bet they must be starving. Once I finish up, I'll bring them some leftovers. They've had it rough, so they deserve it. But how am I gonna get past Rina? As soon as I get out of here, she's gonna yell at me about something!'_ Riko thought as she chomped on her favorite rice pilaf. Hotaru glanced at Riko once again as soon as she ate some more rice pilaf.

"Aww! I don't wanna eat green beans! They're yucky!" Rina complained loudly.

"Don't be picky, Rina-chan. Green beans are actually good for you. They'll make you big and strong," Hikage told her with a mischievous smile on his face to lighten up the situation.

"How do you know?" Rina asked, not convinced.

"I agree. Green beans aren't the tastiest food to eat. Y'know, when I was little, when my parents would make me eat potatoes, I would sneak them into my shoes and then throw them all out once I finished the rest of my dinner. But then my dad found out and lectured me like crazy on how potatoes are good for me and how I should never be so sneaky," Hotaru told them with a sweet smile on her face.

Arinao and Saki burst into hearty laughter once again. "I remember when I was a girl, my parents wouldn't let me leave the table until I finished eating beets, and I still hate beets with the fury of a thousand suns," Saki told them through her laughter.

"I have to say, Hikage, your new friend sure knows how to leave us in stitches," Arinao told his jovial son once he calmed down.

"Some kids used to call me stitches when I was in 5th and 6th grade," Hotaru said.

Riko thought this was the perfect opportunity to sneak some food on her plate and run back to her room to give it to Moonbeam and Sunbeam so they can at least have something to eat and replenish their energy. "How come I have to eat green beans while Riko doesn't?!" Rina suddenly asked, which made Riko freeze for a bit.

"Riko's already a big girl. Now eat your beans, Rina. They're good for you, and don't put your elbows on the table. That's bad manners," Saki told her youngest daughter, her voice slightly more austere this time.

"That's not fair! Hey, Riko! Come back to the table! It's rude to run to your room while people are here!" Rina yelled petulantly.

"I'm already done dinner!" Riko exclaimed and ran to her room in a flash. She really didn't want to deal with Rina right now. She's been through enough craziness today.

"Try to stay away from Riko. She's not normal, unlike me," Rina told Hotaru boldly. Riko could hear her right from her room, and Rina's poisonous words felt like a knife going right through her heart. Hotaru paid no heed to Rina's caustic comment.

"Rina! That is no way to talk about your sister, and you should never tell people to stay away from her. That's very rude!" Saki scolded sternly.

Not wanting to hear anymore, Riko went into her room. "Moonbeam! Sunbeam! I got some food for you," Riko called out as she placed the plate on the floor, right next to the side of the bed where Moonbeam and Sunbeam were hiding. As soon as the aroma of the rice pilaf and the salisbury steak caressed their nostrils, they popped right out and chomped on the leftovers. Riko couldn't help but smile as she watched the hungry little fairy creatures scarf down the food like they had been starved for months, like hungry wolves or bears. She couldn't help but find them cute, even if they were covered in sloppily put on bandages and band-aids.

"Yay! I absolutely love meat! Especially with the sauce that it comes with! Man, that sure hit the spot! Thanks a lot, Riko-chan!" Sunbeam exclaimed before burping really loud, which made Riko and Moonbeam both burst right into a paroxysm of jovial and happy laughter, similar to how Saki and Arinao did when they heard about Hotaru's funny childhood story.

"That was a good one, Sunbeam!" Riko exclaimed through her laughter. It's hard to believe she was crying her eyes out about half an hour ago.

"But it's still bad manners though," Moonbeam said through her own laughter.

Riko regained her equanimity and told her, "It's okay if she does it here at home. We don't mind at all. Sometimes, Rina and Hikage have burping contests. It's so funny, though I usually end up winning for some reason. So how is it?"

"It's great, Riko-chan. Thank you very much for your generosity. We truly appreciate it," Moonbeam told her kindly and politely once she finished her food. With a graceful, ladylike bow, she expressed her gratitude properly. "We're very sorry all of this craziness happened. I'm sure you must have been frightened by everything that was going on. We don't blame you."

"I'm sorry for messing everything up like I usually do," Riko said. "By the way...what HAS been happening lately? Who's this Zenjin guy? How does he have super powers when he's supposed to be human? And who and what are you guys supposed to be anyway? Oh! I forgot to introduce myself formally. I'm Tasogare Riko."

"We should probably explain everything from scratch. My name is Moonbeam, and this is my older sister, Sunbeam," Moonbeam told her with a polite, 45-degree bow.

"You two are sisters?" Riko asked, confused. _'How can they be sisters when they look absolutely nothing alike?'_ Riko thought to herself, flummoxed by the revelation.

"Yep! We actually have two more sisters. Starbeam and Lovebeam. But we got separated trying to keep Zenjin from coming to earth. That's kinda why we got hurt so bad," Sunbeam explained with a smile as she pointed to the bandages Riko put on them.

"You see, we're fairies from the planet called Rozaniela. Well, to be honest, we're actually aliens. We have the power to shape shift, though most of us don't, us included. Don't worry, we're not taking over your planet or have any intention of sucking out your brains. Rozaniela is where we came from. It's a beautiful planet with lots of pretty flowers, castles, quaint towns, and lots and lots of animals and greenery! Our ancestors created it long ago, when they needed to create a safe haven for those who were miserable and suffering. We did try to settle into your planet before without causing a big scene, but the planet didn't suit our tastes, so our ancestors created Rozaniela themselves so we could live in peace, without bothering anybody," Moonbeam explained.

"But aliens aren't the only species to inhabit Rozaniela. Lately we've been taking in abandoned humans and giving them a new lease on life when the earth hasn't been kind to them," Sunbeam piped in.

A thought popped into Riko's head right then and there. "Did you guys also take any...babies by any chance?"

"Yep. Lots of them. But only the ones from those run down, dirty, disgusting orphanages that couldn't care less about their welfare. That's why our friends chose to take them all to Rozaniela, so they can be cared for properly and in a loving, nurturing environment, one that those orphanages didn't give them," Sunbeam replied.

"Isn't that like kidnapping?" Riko asked, ruminating about the implications of their stealing babies from third world orphanages and remembering the story she heard on the news.

"That's why we only took them from the places that don't care about them. They don't care if they go missing, and they generally go unnoticed, too. That's the only rule: only take them to Rozaniela when absolutely necessary, and from places where it's evident that they are not wanted there, so nobody will care whether they've disappeared or not. We know how bad it can be if we took someone away when it's likely they'll be noticed. That's why we keep a low profile and only go for the ones most likely to be unnoticed and in the most dire need of our help. Sometimes, for really bad cases that absolutely cannot be ignored, they erase the abusers' memories so they won't make a big scene," Moonbeam said.

"Zenjin was one of those kids. He's had a really bad life, and our queen discovered him and decided to take him in as one of her own," Sunbeam asked.

"Wait, he's _human_?! Then why does he have super powers?!" Riko yelped, bewildered by this new revelation.

"We're getting to that. Yes, Zenjin is human. But even though everyone on Rozaniela did their best to shower him with everything he was deprived of, nothing seemed to work. He always seemed distant and detached from everyone...but then he got his hands on our power source, the Energia," Sunbeam told her. She began to grow sad once she got to that last sentence.

Riko tilted her head downward a little, flummoxed. "Energia?"

"The Energia is a special jewel that contains all the powers our ancestors had. When they were alive, their powers were limitless. They could do whatever they wanted, from warping reality to creating entire planets, even new dimensions. But they knew that this power was dangerous if it was in the wrong hands, so they made the Energia as a container for it to be sealed in. But they did have to seal it in the deepest part of the planet so nobody can access it, because if someone with hatred and malice comes into contact with it, the jewel will turn black, and its powers can be used in all the wrongest ways possible," Moonbeam explained, she herself becoming sad. Her long ears drooped downward sadly. "Zenjin broke through all the secret doors and security systems we set up...and took it away. Once he got his hands on it, he used it to destroy Rozaniela…"

"That's terrible," Riko muttered sadly, feeling quite bad for the little animals.

"I know! So many of our dearest friends and inhabitants died because of him! And he killed them all just so he could see what the Energia was capable of! Then he absorbed it and came here! It's so stupid, right?!" Sunbeam shouted angrily, with flames of rancor dancing in her proud little heart.

"Shhh! Use your indoor voice, Sunbeam," Moonbeam shushed, which made Sunbeam cross her arms and slump onto the floor, pouting. She turned back to Riko and told her more of the story. "If someone absorbs the Energia, they have every power our ancestors had. That's why we tried to keep Zenjin from coming here, but because he's so powerful now, we were unable to stop him. We're sorry he came here."

"It's okay. It's not like you wanted him to come here. I understand," Riko told them kindly. "By the way, do you know what Soul Portals are?"

"I do! Soul Portals are mirror-like objects that are the gateway to a person's heart and soul. It lets you everything: their dreams, their secrets, their insecurities, their most private thoughts, their likes and dislikes, and everything that defines them from the inside and out," Sunbeam piped in cheerfully.

"So...if one were to look inside one of those things...would that be considered invasion of privacy?"

"Oh yes!" Moonbeam said as she nodded vigorously to further emphasize her response.

'_Reminds me of those dream mirrors from Sailor Moon SuperS,'_ Riko thought. "Do you know how Zenjin's able to turn people's souls into monsters?"

"That part, we don't know," Moonbeam replied. "That's the first time we've ever seen something like that."

"We don't even know why he even came to earth in the first place," Sunbeam piped in.

"I see. Thanks for the info. I'll probably mess everything up, but I'd be more than happy to help you in any way I can," Riko told them. "You two should get some rest if you wanna get better."

"Good point. We promise to be quiet. 'Kay?" Moonbeam said.

"But I do have to say…" Riko said with a smile as she picked them both up and then suddenly hugged them. "You're sooooooo CUTE! I've always dreamed of having cute, fluffy little animal fairy friends, and now I have some! Meow! You're so cuddly and soft and warm and fluffy!" Riko squealed happily, rubbing her cheeks against the fluffy little animal fairies, relishing in their fur, soft as the fur on a newborn kitten.

"You're...crushing...me…" Sunbeam croaked as she was being squeezed by Riko, exacerbating her injuries.

"Ack! Sorry! I'm an idiot!" Riko shouted as she let them go, realizing her wrongdoing. But she certainly wished she could dote on them some more. They're so cute and huggable!

After that, the rest of the day went by just fine. Hotaru went back home while Riko was talking with the fairies. Not only that, Riko decided to spend the rest of the evening playing with the fairies. She found them to be quite good company. She played with them, she read stories to them, she showed them her drawings and made-up stories, she made a little bed for them to sleep in, gave them some dessert to munch on, read manga with them, watched anime with them, everything, and from the happy expressions they had, she could see that they were clearly enjoying being with her. Riko couldn't believe this was happening. She always did dream of having cute little fluffy animal friends, but those were only in the realm of fantasy. She thought she could never have something like that other than stuffed animals, let alone actual humans for friends. But not only has she potentially made one friend, but three friends! For Riko, this was a dream come true.

At about 8:00 PM, Riko went to take a bath. She got pretty dirty during the fight with Marina's corrupted soul, so she really needed one. She was surprised Rina didn't mock her for how dirty she was. After that, she put on her pajamas (tonight's pair being a pale pink color with long sleeves, long pants, and with little white flowers dotted all over it), played with Moonbeam and Sunbeam some more, then went back into the bathroom to blow dry her hair with the hair dryer. Rina kept banging on the door, telling her to hurry up as she needed to get in there to brush her teeth, but Riko preferred taking her time. Once she was done, she brushed her teeth and got out. Rina shot something at her like, "Why do you gotta be so slow?! Other people need to use the bathroom, y'know!" but Riko paid her no heed. At least Moonbeam and Sunbeam are a lot nicer and more understanding than she is. After that, she, Moonbeam, and Sunbeam went to bed to sleep the night away.

Riko figured she could forget about what she experienced today and be lost in her pleasant, happy dreams...or so she thought. Instead, her dreams were plagued with images she didn't want to see, namely angry faces of people she once encountered in the past. Faces and images she didn't want to see, angry voices she didn't want to hear, and realities she didn't want to face.

Like the citizens from yesterday. Their angry voices and calumny echoed in her head. She wanted them to stop, but they just wouldn't.

"_It's all your fault! Why'd you have to deprive them of their homes?! Huh?!"_

"_I'll bet you did that to show off and pretend to be some sort of hero!"_

"_We don't want you here if this is what you're gonna do on a regular basis!"_

"_Rebuild their homes immediately! Oh, yeah! That's right! You can't! Because you're stupid and selfish!"_

"_Go away, you freak!"_

"_You're a menace to our city!"_

"_You'll get us all killed!"_

Zenjin's voice came right after._ "You're trash! You don't deserve to exist, you trash! You're born trash and you will die trash!"_

Voices from the past.

"_You should know better! You're sick!"_

"_Retard! Retard!"_

"_Aren't you a little old to be acting so childish and stupid?" _

"_Do us all a favor and grow up!" _

"_You'll never have any friends if you keep acting like that." _

"_It's because you keep acting like that everyone hates you, you stupid retard!" _

"_It's not appropriate for middle schoolers to play pretend. Don't you have more important things to worry about?"_

"_You need to control that brat of yours! I've never seen such a troublesome, ill-behaved child! The worst I've ever seen, even! It's obvious you don't discipline her correctly!"_

"_What's wrong, retard cat?! Gonna pretend you're a cat super hero again?!"_

"_We don't like retards like you walkin' 'round on our turf, yo!"_

"_Dirty freak!"_

"_Why don't you grow up already?! You're too old to be playing pretend games! And you wonder why you don't have any friends!"_

"NO!" With a yelp, she awoke, alarmed by the voices plaguing her dreams. Much to her surprise, it's still dark out. She looked at her clock and found that it's 3:05 AM. She saw Moonbeam and Sunbeam sleeping in their new little bed contentedly, like they didn't hear her at all. With a smile, she went back to her bed and back to sleep. This time, she had nicer dreams.

But reality had to be faced the next morning, even though she really didn't want to face it right now. Riko woke up, ate breakfast, got her lunch ready, and put some clothes on. Today's outfit consists of a long sleeved, soft, pale pink cardigan over a white ruffled shirt, dark blue jean pants, and white ankle socks with light green stars all over them.

"Are you going to school?" Moonbeam asked.

"Yeah. I really don't want to though. I wish I could stay here with you. But when I'm gone, you HAVE to be quiet and act like stuffed animals or else everyone here might find out what you really are," Riko told them with a smile.

"Not to worry! We'll be super duper quiet! Not only that, we were kinda planning on going out and looking for our other sisters, so we won't be here anyway," Sunbeam piped in cheerfully.

"But you're injured. Shouldn't you rest?" Riko asked curiously, concerned for their safety, as she opened her bedroom window for the fairies to fly out of.

"They don't hurt as bad as before. Plus if we keep a low profile and not move around so much, the other humans won't notice us, so we'll be fine. You run along to school, Riko-chan," Moonbeam told her with a sweet smile. Riko couldn't help but find her absolutely adorable.

"Okay. Bye girls!" Riko said as she grabbed a manga and dashed out of her bedroom, leaving Moonbeam and Sunbeam alone inside.

"Have a nice day!" Moonbeam said, waving to Riko as she left.

"Now that she's gone, let's go and look for Starbeam and Lovebeam. They must be scared and frightened by now! I hope they're not hurt," Sunbeam proclaimed as she flew out of the open window, with Moonbeam following her from behind.

"Me too. But Starbeam's smart and sensible. She can take care of herself, even when the situation seems hopeless. It's Lovebeam I'm the most worried about," Moonbeam said.

"That part I totally get. Now let's get moving!" Sunbeam said as she and Moonbeam flew away from the Tasogare house and into parts unknown to search for their missing sisters.

* * *

Riko made it to school without a hitch thanks to Saki. She looked around the overly populated black top to find that red haired, glasses wearing, wheelchair boy from before. Kyoya, was it? There's just so many kids running around playing and shouting, it was hard to make anything out. But as it turned out, she didn't have to look for him.

"Hi, Riko!"

Riko instantly turned around to find him just a little ways away, happily waving at her, with one of his arms proudly rising into the sky, and his green eyes wide and bright, wearing a white shirt with crimson red stripes running across it horizontally, beige khaki pants, and black and white sneakers.

"Hi, Kyoya!" Riko cried out happily as she ran over to him.

"I figured you'd be looking for me," Kyoya said with his usual smile.

"You did? Nobody ever wants to look for me unless they want to pick on me," Riko told him, surprised by what he just said.

"Yeah. I've had those days too. Oh! By the way, got any more Hinata Sun Child volumes yet? I hear its supposed to end soon!" Kyoya told him, his cheerful radiance proving to be quite persistent.

"I only have up to volume 7 so far. I haven't gotten volume 8 yet, and volume 9 comes out next month. Oh! But I did bring another manga with me. I don't think you've heard of it though," Riko said as she rummaged through her backpack and pulled out another manga to show to him. The issue is volume 4.

"_Pokemon Special_(1)? Awesome! That's one of the older ones, right? I only have some of the Diamond and Pearl series," Kyoya exclaimed excitedly.

"Yep! I just started reading from the beginning, so I only have up to volume 6," Riko said. "But it's really really cool! It's a lot darker and cooler than the Pokemon anime, though I still love the anime."

"Are you gonna get the X and Y games when they come out? I sure am!" Kyoya said.

"I'd love to, but I don't have a 3DS. I'm begging my parents to get me one for Christmas this year. I really want a purple one," Riko said a little bit dejectedly, though not enough to completely deter her.

What they didn't know was that someone was approaching them...and it wasn't someone they thought they'd be happy to see.

"Hey."

Riko and Kyoya turned around to find Marina looking at them. She's wearing an olive green hoodie with a big pocket on the abdomen, grey jean pants, and white sneakers. Their smiles faded as soon as they acknowledged that she appeared. Unlike before, Riko just became a little flummoxed, showing no fear. Just confusion. Kyoya, however, donned a face that had a slight hint of contempt, like he had lots of unpleasant encounters with her before. Then again, Marina did knock him off his wheelchair, knock his glasses off his face, and tell him that just because he's in a wheelchair he shouldn't be even remotely capable of basic human thinking. But unlike yesterday, Marina didn't look angry or like she wanted to hurt them. She just had an apologetic look on her face. Riko looked away from her like she does everybody, so she couldn't tell.

"What do you want?" Kyoya asked in a low voice, but Riko could hear some twinges of caution and suspicion peppering it.

At first, Marina said nothing, but after a short while, she gathered the mettle to speak. "Look. I...I'm sorry for what I did to the both of you," She said a little sheepishly before turning to Kyoya. "And...sorry for all the mean stuff I said to you...yesterday and all those other times."

Kyoya wasn't convinced. "Oh. NOW you apologize? For everything you put me and everyone else through all these years? What are you trying to pull?! If this is some kind of trick, we're not gonna fall for it!" He shouted angrily, not intent on accepting her apology.

Marina flinched a little at his response, her golden eyes trembling a bit, like she was about to cry. But she didn't dare show her insecurity. "I figured you'd say that. Oh well. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry and...I won't do it again," She muttered shyly. With that, she ran away, leaving behind two confused kids.

"What was that all about?" Kyoya asked, confused by this unexpected encounter.

"She's not all bad," Riko muttered out of the blue. Kyoya was about to ask why she'd say something like that until she interrupted him. "My dad and I ran into her yesterday. She was talking to an abandoned kitten. We found out she's mean to people because they're mean to her. They think that because her dad's a criminal, she's gonna become just like him. She's tried to prove them wrong but nothing worked, so she gave up and decided to be a bully. She said it's what they expect of her."

"That's dumb," Kyoya piped in a little more sympathetically. "I mean, I've heard about her dad. His crimes were all over the news before I was born, and people still kept talking about it, but I only hate her because she picks on me and everyone else a lot. Oh! By the way, did you hear about what happened yesterday? Apparently some monster wreaked havoc last night! I know it sounds hard to believe, but it was on the news this morning!"

"I heard about that," Riko said, trying to maintain her equanimity. But inside, her mind was screaming. _'What?! They know about Asagi's monster form? Or maybe Zenjin, too?! Oh God! If they find out I'm Cure Twilight, they'll all hate me and say I'm the reason bad stuff is happening! What am I gonna dooooo?!'_ Riko screamed in her head. She was about to do some more in-brain screaming until something made her stop thinking about it.

A sound. A sound she knew. She could hear it even through her ears were being flooded by the loud sounds of the other kids shouting and playing. She looked around for the source of it while not leaving Kyoya's side. Kyoya could see her fidgeting a little.

"What's up, Riko?" Kyoya asked again.

"Do you hear that?" Riko asked back.

"Hear what?"

"A harmonica."

"Harmonica?"

At first, Kyoya was flummoxed again until a realization flashed in his head like a new light bulb that was installed to replace an old, broken one. "Oh! You must be hearing Chino-san playing."

"Chino?"

"Chino Anzu. She's the blonde girl who stopped Asagi from stabbing you with a pencil. Remember? She's in our homeroom and some of our classes. She's really good at the harmonica, and we never see her without one," Kyoya explained with his smile coming back.

"Ohhh! Is that her name? I oughta thank her sometime," Riko said.

"Yeah. I've been meaning to befriend her since last year, but I never got around to doing so, mostly because she was never in any of my classes, and she tends to keep to herself, kinda like you. The other kids kinda don't like her though. They think she's a goth because she wears black all the time, though she looks and acts nothing like one," Kyoya explained.

"That's dumb. Just like hating Asagi just because her dad's a criminal."

"That's what I say."

They wanted to talk more, but the bell rang, so they had to go inside the school building. But Riko was able to pick the blonde, bespectacled, black clothes wearing girl, Chino Anzu, out in homeroom immediately. Her hair is a pale, radiant shade of yellow, shining brightly like the morning sunshine, and extremely long, tied into a long, vibrant ponytail with a pale pink scrunchie. She has fair skin, radiant light green eyes like limes hidden behind those big, coke-bottle glasses of hers, and her wardrobe didn't look like anything a typical goth would wear. She isn't wearing any makeup, like eyeliner or lipstick or anything of the sort, and she doesn't have any piercings either. All she's wearing is a black and red Sweeney Todd themed hoodie that's unzipped, a navy blue shirt under it with Wonder Woman on it, black jeans with some silver hoops on them where one can strap things on them (she heard they were called bondage pants, but she doesn't like the way it sounds), and white and purple sneakers. It'd be one thing if she was wearing them way down to the point where her undies would show like other kids she knew did before she moved, but the girl didn't look nor act like those kids she knew back then, and her pants seemed to be at the appropriate height.

It's easy to see why other kids don't approach her. She certainly didn't look very approachable, but then again, Riko hardly ever approached anyone for other reasons. But Riko didn't think she looked mean, though she could be wrong. Riko also saw something around her neck. A shiny, sterling silver harmonica dangled from a purple string around Anzu's neck. It looked very worn out, like it had been used a lot, but that didn't make it lose its shine. That must have been the one she played earlier, before the bell rang. She wanted to talk to her, but she was afraid she might scare her or anger her, as she usually did other people, so she decided not to. For the most part, the morning went by just fine, even though some weird boy made a scene in gym class, causing the teacher to get angry and send him to the principal's office.

At lunch time, things became a lot nicer. "Hey, Riko! Wanna sit with me?" Kyoya asked cheerfully, inviting her to sit at his lunch table. Without any hesitation at all, Riko said yes and spent the lunch hour with him. Within minutes, Riko could feel that eating lunch with someone and having fun conversations with them proved to be far, FAR better than sitting all alone, and Riko never sat with anyone at lunch her entire life! This was a new experience for her, but one she would soon find to be very warm, comforting, and even enjoyable. She could sit with Kyoya every single day. It was clear he enjoyed her company, and she enjoyed his. Like her, he also brought lunch from home. She couldn't believe this was happening. But it was no dream.

She wondered if that could be true too.

"Kyoya…" Riko muttered shyly.

"Yeah? What?" Kyoya asked as he finished chomping on a red leather fruit strip.

"I know this sounds weird, but...can we be…" Riko felt choked up just trying to get the words out. But in the end, she finally blurted it out. "Can we be friends?!"

Kyoya didn't waste any time answering. "Aren't we already friends?"

"Wait...we are?" Riko asked, flummoxed by Kyoya's counter question. It began to dawn on her, but she kept on denying it in her heart.

"Totally! We have so much in common!" Kyoya exclaimed with a radiant grin. "We both like manga and anime, we're kinda misfits around here, and people like Asagi, Kosaka, and Inoue drive us _crazy_! How can we NOT be friends?! Seriously! Besides, I think you're pretty cool, Riko. I don't see why we can't be friends!"

It was so unexpected. She never thought this day would come. It was so shocking, so out of the blue, so out of nowhere, yet it felt so right…

"What the-?! Are you...crying?!"

She felt something warm and wet on her face. She put her hand on it to find the source of it: tears. Embarrassed, she tried to wipe them off with her bare arms. How can she be crying when she should be happy? "Sorry! It's not you! It's just...I...I...I've never had any friends before…never ever..."

Kyoya's smile faded. "Never? Ever? Seriously? Not a single one in your whole entire life?"

"Yep. Never ever, in my whole entire life. Not even one. People always hated me. Both kids and grown ups, just because I'm weird and stupid and...retarded, as they say. The kids always picked on me, and most adults I met all thought I was a bad kid. Sorry. I really shouldn't be acting like this…" Riko muttered sadly as she helplessly tried to wipe the tears off of her wet face.

Again, he wasted no time talking. "Screw them! They just don't see how nice you are! So what if you're kinda weird? We're all weird here! And you're NOT retarded! That's not a nice thing to say. You stood up to Asagi when she knocked me over, and you wasted no time telling her off, so I can't see why people think you're dumb or bad."

_We're all weird here_. She couldn't help but giggle a little at that, which brought Kyoya's radiant grin back. She should start using that remark when someone calls her weird. They consumed their lunch and talked the rest of the moment away. Then they talked some more at recess. Some kids decided to tease them upon seeing them together, but Kyoya paid absolutely no heed to them, and if he didn't, then she didn't have to pay attention either. Words just couldn't describe Riko's sheer happiness upon realizing that she's made her first ever friend. She never thought it would happen to her, but it did, and her cup of happiness was literally overflowing with the liquid of joy, not intent on getting plugged up by some mean people anytime soon.

But soon, Riko would find another friend.

At science class, she requested to go to the bathroom real quick. She remembered where it was. She's passed it lots of times during classes, so she knew where it was, keeping its location in her head. Her memory proved to be right, and she found it exactly where it was before. She went in, did what she needed to do, and proceeded to wash her hands in the sink. She had to admit, she didn't like how sticky the liquid soap from the container felt on her hands. It was warm and felt like muddy puddle water, and she did not like muddy puddle water. But she had to use it or else her hands would have germs on them.

That's when it happened.

The door burst right open, footsteps stomped hastily through the bathroom, scaring Riko into having a mini heart attack, one of the bathroom door stalls swung open with a bang, and then a vociferous sound assaulted her ears.

The sound of someone vomiting.

Riko hastily dried her hands with the paper towels and turned around to see what was wrong. When she finished, she crept over to the stall that was open. She didn't even have to go too far to recognize who it is that's vomiting.

The huge, blonde ponytail and Sweeney Todd themed hoodie gave it all away.

"Are you okay?!" Riko yelped as she ran over to the blonde girl, still vomiting in the toilet. Thankfully, the minute she said that, the girl stopped. She panted like she ran a marathon and pulled the toilet's lever so the horrible stuff can be flushed down the drain, never to be seen or smelled again. Riko was thankful it was gone, but a noisome odor lingered in the bathroom air, and she didn't like it. But she didn't dare complain. "You okay?" She asked again.

The blonde girl, Anzu, turned around and her hazel green eyes widened when she saw Riko behind her. But she could tell she looked quite concerned and worried. Sluggishly, Anzu stood up, pulled a napkin out of her pocket, and wiped her mouth with it. "I am now. Sorry you had to see and hear that," She replied in a nice but somewhat husky voice. Riko couldn't tell if that's her normal voice or if it was because she puked just now.

"It's okay. But you should probably go to the nurse. You might end up doing it again and not even know it," Riko suggested with concern twinging her voice. Anzu nodded in agreement, and the two of them left the bathroom.

A small water fountain came into view.

"Oh!" Riko exclaimed as she took Anzu by the wrist and gently dragged her to the fountain. "You should get a drink first. My mom says that when people vomit, they get dehydrated, and that's not good for their system."

"Yeah. Thanks," Anzu croaked as she did as Riko asked and took a good sip of the water from the fountain. Once she finished, they headed off to the nurse's office. Anzu sat down on one of the beds. Riko was about to sit down as well, but her olive green purse slipped off her shoulder and onto the floor, causing her manga to pop right out.

"Agh! This always happens!" Riko said as she scrambled to put her manga back in her purse.

"Hey. Is that the Pokemon manga?" Anzu suddenly asked out of the blue.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I've been meaning to read that for a while. I never got around to it."

A glimmer of hope blazed in Riko's heart. Another friend, maybe? "You read manga?"

"Yep. I like stuff like FMA, Madoka Magica, 07-Ghost-"

"You should get back to class, Tasogare," The female nurse told her.

"Sorry! We'll talk more later. Feel better soon, okay?" Riko told her, a little disappointed that she couldn't stay and talk some more.

"Thanks for helping me. See you in homeroom," Anzu told her with a sweet smile and waved as Riko ran out of the nurse's office and back to class.

* * *

Friends can be a wonderful thing to have. At Hikaribashi High School, just before the last bell rang, Hikage and Hotaru sat by themselves, happily chatting and palavering like they've known each other for years and years, maybe even eons. What they didn't know was that people were giving them some dirty looks, not that they cared. They were just focused on having a good chat and cracking a good joke before they have to leave school for the day.

"Is it true you take naginata lessons?" Hikage asked with a smile.

"Yep. I've been practicing since I was ten. I really like it," Hotaru replied sweetly, with her own smile. Hikage couldn't help but think she looked like a princess when she smiled like that.

"I'll bet it's hard."

"It is, but it's very fun. Plus it's a way for me to defend myself if a stranger tries to attack me. I never go anywhere without it. Are you in any clubs in particular?"

"Not clubs, per se, but I do kinda wanna join the basketball team."

"Basketball, huh? Nice! Were you on any teams in your last schools?"

"Yep! If you can believe it, I was Enrai Middle School's star player! I even helped my team get to the nationals! But we did get creamed part of the way through, so that stunk."

"You did your best, and that's all that matters. Oh! By the way, have you heard about that incident yesterday?"

"What incident? Do you mean the one about some monster attacking the neighborhood?"

"Yes," She didn't dare tell Hikage that she was there. He might start asking questions that she may be unable to answer. But she figured just telling him about the incident wouldn't hurt. "Nobody was killed, that's good. But I just want you to be careful if anything like that happens again," She advised calmly.

"You be careful too. Don't wanna lose the first friend I made here!"

"Hey Tasogare! Come here, will ya?" Three slightly older, more bulky looking boys called out from the other side of the classroom.

"Better do some socializing. Be right back, Hotaru-chan," Hikage told her sweetly as he left his desk and went over to the trio of boys that called on him, hoping to make some more friends. He's a social butterfly, so he thought they'd make great friends.

Boy, was he wrong.

"What's up?" Hikage asked.

"You's been gettin' real chummy with Minamigawa lately, ain'cha?" One boy with a little scar above his left eyebrow asked suspiciously.

Hikage was starting to get bad vibes from the tone of voices they're using. "Yeah. So what? It's not like we're dating. Why? You have a crush on her? There's nothing wrong with a boy and girl just being friends."

"We get that. But it's JUST Minamigawa we're worried about. You should stay away from her," One boy with messy dark brown hair told him.

"Why? She's not a bad person," Hikage asked, his smile fading. Why are they telling her to stay away from his new friend? She hasn't done anything wrong. Not since he met her.

"She's weird, man. She's all stuck-up and bossy and acts like she's all that," The boy with a streak of blonde hair in his black hair told him.

"No she's not. She's actually quite nice and friendly," Hikage retorted.

"Worst of all, she's got homos for parents, yo," The boy with the scar on his eyebrow told him.

"Homos? Do you mean...her parents are homosexuals?"

"They're gay, yo! Major dud!" The scar boy exclaimed again. "We're just sayin' you oughta run for it if she tries to make you into a homo. Nobody wants to hang around a kid whose parents are a couple of homos."

"Sorry, but I refuse. So what if her parents are homosexual? There's nothing wrong with that! I don't know what ideas you guys have in your heads, but you oughta throw them away. Hotaru's nice and friendly. If you don't like the fact that her parents are gay, then that's your problem. But don't make someone into a pariah because of it!" Hikage snapped as calmly as he could, then walked back to Hotaru's side. "Sorry about that."

"They told you to stay away from me, didn't you?" Hotaru asked with a grim look on her face.

"You heard?"

"Yeah. It's true. I have two dads, and everyone here thinks I'm gross because of it."

"Screw them! They're not worth it. They just don't see how cool you are."

Hotaru's smile returned. "Thanks, Hikage-kun. We should hang out like this more often."

"True that!" Hikage said, his own smile returning as well. Soon, the final bell rang, and everyone went home for the day.

Footnotes:

1. Pokemon Special is a manga by Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto. It's a manga adaptation of the games, but is considered its own continuity and deity, different from both the games they're based on and the anime.


	3. Illuminate The Night Sky! Cure Starlight

Chapter 3: Illuminate The Night Sky! Cure Starlight Arrives!

"Urgh…" A pale blue creature with small, ball-like ears with pale yellow tips on them found herself laying in the base of a patch of white flowers. Her evergreen eyes peeled open, slowly, as the light was a bit too bright and radiant at first. After a while, she rubbed her eyes with her stubby little fingerless paws and adjusted to the light. Once she was fully wide awake, she looked around to take in her surroundings. She found herself surrounded by a myriad of beautiful flowers in an array of multifarious colors, like crimson rose red, cotton candy pink, cloudy white, sky blue, violet purple, and many others. Not only that, they all seemed to be arranged in particular patterns, like rectangles and curves.

But that wasn't what she was worried about, and as much as she wanted to stare at the flowers and admire how pretty and beautiful they are, there are more important things to think about.

"Sunbeam? Moonbeam? Lovebeam? Where are you!" She called out at first. She was about to freak out, but she didn't. She put both paws on her mouth. _'Calm down, Starbeam. Don't cry out or else you may attract unwanted attention,'_ The creature, calling herself Starbeam, thought to herself. _'Now let's retrace what happened. Zenjin destroyed Rozaniela, absorbed the Energia, and escaped to Earth. We tried to stop him with the powers we had and...he got free,'_ Starbeam thought again, becoming dejected once she got further into her memory of what happened. She removed her paws from her mouth and sighed. She then looked up at the pristine blue sky, unstained, without any puffs of clouds in sight. As much as she wanted to admire how beautiful the sky is, her heart was heavy with sadness, like a huge pile of cinder blocks was duct taped to it and barely hanging on for dear life.

"I have to find my sisters. I hope they're not hurt. Queen Malgorzata is counting on us…" Starbeam muttered to herself. She floated off of the flowers and onto parts unknown. She made sure to not fly in public places and keep a low profile, as she knew very well that this is a world in which creatures like her are an anomaly, a strange and alien occurrence. She might attract unwanted attention, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. There was too much to deal with already. She didn't want to deal with anything more than the situation they're in now.

"So this is what Earth looks like...it's a lot prettier than I thought it'd be. But I bet there's a lot of dirty, unkempt places too. I'm hoping Zenjin isn't planning on destroying everything. What does he plan to do with his newly acquired powers? Obviously something malicious and unacceptable, that much I know for sure," Starbeam said to herself as she flew wherever she thought she could find her sisters. The worry in her little heart amassed like a pile of bricks, incessantly building up like no tomorrow.

'_Moonbeam...Starbeam...Lovebeam...please be alright. I would cry forever and be heartbroken beyond all reason if you died...or worse! Zenjin might kill you with his new powers. No! I cannot let myself be consumed by a tsunami of worries! I simply must keep my equanimity should I be able to find them. If I am sad, then they will be sad too, and I won't be able to find them if I stay like this. We can't let Queen Malgorzata down. Ohhh, if only I had some kind of tracking device or something of the sort!'_ Starbeam ruminated to herself as she flew further and further into parts unknown. Her worry for her sisters didn't stop amassing, no matter what she did and no matter how many beautiful things she did manage to come across.

* * *

When Riko got back from school yesterday, she asked Moonbeam and Sunbeam if they found their other sisters yet. Sadly, their search came up completely fruitless, and Riko could tell they were extremely worried. But she could see that their injuries are slowly but gradually healing, so that was a good sign. She wished she could help them in their search, but she doesn't go out on her own. Ever. The farthest she went was her backyard, that's it. Not only that, school is taking up most of her time, and today is yet another day of it.

It didn't even start off on a good note.

"RINAAAA! You spilled apple juice all over my shiiiiirt!" Riko's piercing, vociferous, and choleric screamed echoed all through the house. It was so loud, everybody heard it. Even Moonbeam and Sunbeam. They almost exposed themselves to the entire Tasogare family, but they were extra careful and made sure to hide under the bed and keep their mouths shut. Riko, with her face red as a flame and round as a bomb about to burst, her eyes bloodshot and full of hate, shoved a pretty white shirt with puffed sleeves and flower shaped buttons with an unsightly yellow apple juice stain all over the bottom part of it in the surprised younger girl's face. But Rina, undeterred, put on a pouty face and crossed her arms like she was the victim. Arinao, Saki, and Hikage were in the dining room with them, surprised and exasperated by this fiasco.

"No I didn't! You spilled it! It's your own fault for being stupid! You oughta be more careful, weirdo cat!" Rina snapped petulantly.

"I DON'T EVEN LIKE APPLE JUICE! You have the box in your hand for crying out loud!" Riko screamed.

"Riko! Use your inside voice!" Saki scolded, already at her wit's end, but Riko paid no heed. Rina, gasping upon seeing the squished apple juice box in her hand, ran to the trash can and threw it in there.

"No I don't!" Rina whined back, obviously trying to cover up her transgression, and not doing a very good job of it either.

"Come on. It was an accident, and Rina, you know we don't call names in the house, and don't make it sound like Riko is the only one who makes mistakes around here. Now say you're sorry," Hikage told her sternly, with his own arms crossed.

"I don't see why I gotta! It really was an accident! And she left her shirt someplace she shouldn't have! She's too stupid to do anything! She doesn't have any friends because of it!" Rina snapped back.

"Rina. Apologize. NOW," Hikage repeated again, angrier this time. Rina, who knew better than to cross her older brother, finally relented.

"Sorry…" She muttered petulantly.

But Riko wasn't buying it. "Do you know how much Mom paid for this?! And do you even know how bad stains are on white clothes?! You had to go and ruin it forever, just like my favorite Moomin doll! Now I can't wear it anymore! Why can't you actually acknowledge that you're a spoiled brat who always feels she's gotta be right about everything?! And for the record, I actually DO have friends!" She yelled.

"Riko! Inside voice!" Saki scolded again.

"You? Have friends?" Rina asked, her eyes wide with bewilderment, looking quite dumbfounded. Then she suddenly burst into a paroxysm of inopportune laughter, like she heard the funniest joke ever. "No way! No you don't! You're too weird and stupid to have any friends!"

"Rina! That is enough!" Arinao yelled, appalled by his younger daughter's persistent petulance and brattiness. Riko covered her ears, but she was still lucid enough to continue talking.

"That's because you haven't met them! By the way, do YOU have any friends yet?" Riko asked.

"Enough! It's done and over with! Both of you, get ready for school now!" Saki yelled, scaring her two daughters into running to their rooms in fear. Riko, with her apple juice contaminated shirt in hand, ran back to her room. Funnily enough, Moonbeam and Sunbeam were just outside her door when she came in.

"We saw the whole thing," Moonbeam said.

"Your sister's a real brat," Sunbeam piped in.

"Oh, brat doesn't even BEGIN to describe her! She's annoying, selfish, spoiled, demanding, uppity, snotty, inconsiderate, thinks she knows everything when she doesn't, always acts like everything's my fault when she does something wrong, never says sorry for anything bad she does, and always acts like everything's gotta be hers! She always yells stuff like _'MOOOOM! Riko broke my toy!'_, she claims I'm mean to her when she's the one being mean to me, is always running her mouth about everything, always calls me names, always yells at me even when I didn't even do anything wrong or to her or anybody else, she tells people how freaky I am, acts like she's smarter than me, and worst of all, she always, always, always, ALWAYS rubs all of her successes in my face while asking why I'm not normal like she is! Ugh! I swear, God sent her to this world just to remind me how retarded I am compared to her! And she's seven! SEVEN!" Riko screamed into her bed to muffle her screaming, not wanting to expose her two new fairy friends. Even Moonbeam and Sunbeam couldn't help but feel bad for her, since they witnessed that fiasco earlier.

"We know exactly how you feel. Lovebeam acts EXACTLY like that, but she whines every single day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. About EVERYTHING. There's never a day in Rozaniela where she isn't complaining and whining and screeching about any little thing that's bad or wrong in her eyes. And here's the thing: she's the OLDEST out of all of us sisters! She always tells me that everything I cook is bad, even though everyone else says it's the best they've ever had, and she always blames me for everything that goes wrong, even when I never do anything," Sunbeam exclaimed.

"Really? Jeez," Riko asked, flummoxed. In a way, she couldn't help but feel a little happy inside. She finally found someone who relates to her in having an extremely bratty sister! But unlike Rina, who's a younger sister, Lovebeam is the older sister. Aren't older sisters supposed to be the ones being annoyed by little sisters, not the ones doing the annoying?

"It's very tiring. We understand completely how you feel, and I'm the youngest in the family. But you have to admit, Rina IS only seven years old. Perhaps she'll learn her lesson and grow up a little," Moonbeam said.

"I doubt it," Riko grumbled as she put her school books in her bag. At least at school, she can hang out with Kyoya and maybe even Anzu. Hikage can hang out with Hotaru. That's one benefit of school: getting away from annoying little sisters, the huge age gap being a big help.

And really, as soon as she met with Kyoya and Anzu on the blacktop, the boiling anger in her little heart finally died down. They listened to her tale of woe intently, never interrupting her or telling her to shut up, which Riko found to be very unusual but very satisfying at the same time. Usually when she wanted to tell someone about something, they'd either interrupt her, tell her to shut her trap, or just not listen at all, the latter two scenarios being the most common, and Riko hated that. Oh, how wonderful this change was. Her heart felt even more relieved to know that someone's finally listening, and that she's ACTUALLY being heard, not being told to shut up, get over it, or being accused of being a whiner like she was before she moved. She couldn't believe her luck. Was fortune finally smiling on her at last?

"It's a good thing I'm an only child," Anzu said.

"Me too. Sorry we can't relate. But your sister seems like a real brat. I'd go crazy if I had to put up with her," Kyoya piped in.

"Believe me, she drives me crazy every single day! Worst of all, she's always saying stuff like, _'Why can't you be normal, like me?'_ every single day! She's always talking about how she's better than me at everything and how retarded I am! She doesn't even believe I have any friends! But then again, I don't really blame her, since I never did have any friends until now," Riko explained, mimicking Rina's screechy voice in a funny way that actually made Anzu chuckle a bit.

"Maybe she secretly doesn't have any friends at her own school. Maybe she's jealous," Anzu piped in with a smile.

"I dunno. She had lots and lots of friends before we moved. She was practically the queen of the school," Riko countered.

"Does she really call you retarded and say how you're not normal compared to her every single day?" Kyoya asked, a little more seriously this time.

"Yeah. Every day. She doesn't stop even when Mom and Dad yell at her," Riko said.

A grim look took over Kyoya's face, like a blanket being thrown on the grass. "She really doesn't realize how insensitive she's being, is she? Insults like that can really hurt a person, especially if they do it every day. If I ever meet Rina some day, I'm gonna give her a good scolding on how she should never tell someone they're automatically stupid or retarded just because they act different from other people. Look at me! My only problem is that can't walk, yet people just assume my brain is broken too!"

"People think that? That's so dumb! If you were brain damaged, you wouldn't be talking or in a normal school like this," Anzu asked, surprised by what Kyoya just said. Even Riko was flummoxed by this new realization. Why would anyone just outright assume someone's brain damaged if it's only their legs that don't work? She's seen people in wheelchairs that looked and acted like they've had significant brain damage, but Kyoya isn't one of them.

"I know, right? What does being in a wheelchair have to do with being mentally challenged? It's so stupid!" Kyoya exclaimed. The memory of Marina viciously picking on Kyoya and telling him exactly those words lingered back into Riko's mind like a rattlesnake burrowing into its nest. That, and many other memories she didn't want to think about.

But after that, the school day went fine again. Nothing special. Lessons are just beginning to start, and everything seemed easy so far. However, at recess, Riko had to go to the bathroom. Once she finished, she walked right back out into the hall.

"Ugh. I really shouldn't be going so often. I won't have time to play with Anzu and Kyoya…" Riko muttered to herself, not really paying attention to her surroundings. Then she felt something hard beneath her show and it slipped right out from under her.

"Whoa! OWW!" Riko yelled as she fell on her rear end rather painfully. "That hurt!" Riko whined. But after calming down a little, she found the item that she slipped on, just a couple feet away from her. A rather crude looking book that looked like a big diary, complete with soft, pink covering and a lock that clipped on. On its cover are a bunch of letters hastily pasted on it like they were cut out of magazines, making it look like a really bad art project. The pasted on letters read, _The Burn Book._ There were also some fake flowers glued on there, with some of the glue showing around the edges. Riko very slowly and carefully picked it up, trying scrupulously to make sure she didn't accidentally pull off the decorations, not that she really cared either way.

"Burn book?" Riko asked as she rotated it and turned it around to see if anything more was on it. She undid the little lock and opened it. The first thing she saw was on the back of the front cover, and what she saw were the words, _'Authored by Inoue Yoshie, Co-Authored by Amami Shizuka and Shiina Toshiko,'_ She didn't recognize any of the names, but she did remember hearing Kyoya say something about someone named Inoue driving him crazy. Is this Inoue Yoshie person who he was referring to?

Her suspicions were confirmed the minute she skimmed through the so-called burn book.

The pages of the book are literally covered from head to toe with pictures of kids and teachers from the school and lots and lots of scribbles around them in multicolored marker. All of the scribbles are insults, secrets, rumors, and extremely derogatory gossip.

"_Shinozaki is a fat porky little pig who should be at the slaughterhouse. Mima has the biggest lips ever. She looks like she put on too much chapstick. Asagi is obviously going to grow up to be just like her dad-a gang banger and a rapist. It's so obvious! Chino is a tacky, clueless, stuck-up, emo blonde goth with really bad taste in clothes, thinks she's all that, and dumber than a sack of bricks. I wonder if she secretly cuts her wrists? Iguchi is a major slut. All she ever does is hang out with boys. Tsutsumi-sensei is really a drug addict? Could she be doing crack? Mitomo: four eyed cripple extraordinaire. He's so stupid he probably doesn't have thoughts in his head! He should really know his place! That new girl, Tasogare, is geeky and weird and ugly as sin. She's has horrible taste in clothes, she's uglier than a dirty pig, she's weirder than weird, and in dire need of a complete head-to-toe makeover. She needs to know that she's not wanted on this school's sacred grounds! She's probably a big fat retard."_

It went on and on, and it was full with other stuff she didn't dare repeat. Riko couldn't believe what she was reading. She figured someone said bad things about her behind her back, so she wasn't surprised about that. She's used to it by now. But it was what this person wrote about Anzu, Kyoya, and her other classmates that appalled her to the point of no return. Anzu? An emo goth girl? Stuck-up? Clueless? Dumber than a sack of bricks? Thinks she's all that? And Kyoya! Four eyed cripple extraordinaire? Shouldn't have thoughts in his head? Should know his place? Whoever this person is, Riko was NOT going to let her get away with slandering her friends and making up untrue lies about them! She shoved the tacky, vomit inducingly pink book under her arm and stomped into the principal's office, managing to find one of the secretaries.

"Excuse me! Is the principal here by any chance?" Riko asked out of the blue, surprising the female secretary.

"Oh! You scared me! Shouldn't you be outside playing?" The lady exclaimed, shocked by Riko's unprecedented entrance.

"Is the principal here?" Riko asked again.

"Yes. Do you have an appointment with him?" She asked.

"No. I need to show him this," Riko said as she handed her the tacky pink book. The secretary flipped through it and, much like Riko, was extremely shocked by what she saw. "He HAS to know about it! They're saying mean things about me and my friends!"

"Thanks for showing me this. I'll show this to Shindoh-sensei immediately. Go back outside now," The secretary told her kindly. With that, Riko ran right back outside. She wanted to tell Anzu and Kyoya about what she saw, but the bell rang so they had to go back in. But the PA system came on as soon as science class started.

"_Amane-sensei?"_

"Yes?"

"_Can you please send Inoue Yoshie, Amami Shizuka, and Shiina Toshiko to my office please?"_

"Sure. They're on their way."

"_Thank you."_

"Off you go, girls!" Mr. Amane literally shooed the girls out as soon as the principal asked for their presence in his office. Reluctantly, the trio of girls left the science room. Riko couldn't help but smile. They're going to get punished for making that book! She felt happy that she was able to do a good deed. She felt so good, she smiled the rest of the day, even after Saki came and picked her and Rina up. But Saki did tell her and Rina that Hikage is coming home a little late today.

* * *

"Hyah!" In a dojo, Minamigawa Hotaru, dressed in a white shirt and navy blue pants, along with midnight blue plastic kendo bogu, wielding a pale brown, wooden naginata replica in her arms, fiercely knocked another person's weapon away, pointing her own right at his neck.

"Gawww. You win again, Minamigawa…" The boy she fought against complained as he took off his bogu helmet.

"You should never get cocky during a battle. You shouldn't only use a naginata for just attacks. It can work as defense too," Hotaru said as she pulled off her armor.

"Good job today, kids! You all did a great job! Practice is over!" A female coach edicted proudly. As soon as she said that, the high schoolers, both male and female, scrambled to the locker rooms, got dressed in their normal clothes, packed up their stuff, and left, happy to finally be free. Hotaru was the last to get out, as she dressed herself back in her black skinny jeans, a purple and pinkish purple smock with a big red ribbon on the front and medium length sleeves, brown laced boots, and her silver hooped earrings. She grabbed her large naginata bag and flung it over her shoulder before she left. But she stopped when she saw someone standing outside the dojo.

"Hikage?!" Hotaru yelped.

"In the flesh!" Hikage retorted with a smile, wearing his round glasses, a crimson red T-shirt underneath an unzipped pale brown sweater jacket, black jeans, and orange and white sneakers, with his black and lightning blue book bag slung over his shoulder.

"How'd you find out where I practice?" Hotaru asked.

"I looked it up. This is the only naginata dojo in all of Hikaribashi," He replied.

"Why'd you come?"

"To watch, of course! Is that bad?"

"No. But how long have you been there?"

"Only half an hour. Why? You...don't want me to come watch your practice?"

"Oh, no no no! Not at all! I'm happy you came! I just never expected it, that's all!" Hotaru exclaimed waving her free hand around, thinking she might have given him the wrong idea. Good thing Hikage understood. She took a breath and calmed down a bit. "No one's ever come to watch me practice."

"Guess that means I'm the first!"

Hotaru let out a small giggle. "You sure are."

"But that's not the only reason I'm here," Hikage said. Hotaru could see quite an unusual sparkle in his eyes, like he's happier than he usually is. She wondered if it was because they just met, or maybe it was normal and she doesn't know. "See, I was wondering if maybe...if it's okay with you, if we could have dinner together again. But just the two of us this time. There's a neat little restaurant right around here that my family and I went to once, and the food is not only cheap but super good!"

Hotaru couldn't believe her ears. Hikage is asking to go out with her? But was it in THAT way? He's inviting her to dinner, to a restaurant, and he specifically said the two of them. Hotaru donned a suspicious smile and look that usually detectives have. She just couldn't resist asking this. "Why, Tasogare Hikage...are you by chance asking me out on a date?" Hotaru asked in a playfully teasing way, with a mischievous smile and glint in her eyes, bending downward and peering into his face like an overly jealous girlfriend. Hikage suddenly had to take a step back, surprised by not only Hotaru's peering into his face like she's suspecting him of committing adultery, but her question in general.

"A date?! No! Not at all! I'm not ready for that kinda stuff yet!" Hikage stammered, waving his hands around, just like Hotaru did just seconds ago. Hotaru stood up straight and removed herself from his personal space, allowing the shy young man to regain his equanimity. "Really, that's not what I mean. It's just...you're really cool, and I don't believe what those guys are saying about you and your parents is true. Plus we don't have any homework to do, and I thought it'd be nice to get to know each other better. Or do you have any other plans? If it's a bad idea, then that's totally fine."

Hotaru couldn't help but blush just a little bit, her face succumbing to being painted a sweet tint of red, like the red spots one would see in strawberry ice cream sometimes. Nobody's ever invited her anywhere, especially not like this. Well, she did have some guys falling for her, but as soon as they found out about her parents, they abandoned ship and ran for the hills. She really hated that, and she still does. But Hikage's different. _'He's so nice. He really is a friend after all,'_ Hotaru thought with a sweet smile on her face. _'I guess it wouldn't hurt to accept his offer. But I wonder if he'll even be able to pay for the food? I don't want to rob him of his money. But it'd be inconsiderate to reject his kindness. Urgh! I might as well go with it! It's not like I have anything else planned, and he's right. This'll be a great chance to get to know him better. He doesn't automatically hate me like everyone else does,'_ Hotaru thought.

"Sure! I'd love to go with you!" Hotaru said, her smile bright and radiant, which made Hikage beam with joy.

"Yes! Ha ha!" Hikage jumped in the air once and cheered, pumping two of his fists into the air. "Dinner's on me, so I'm paying!"

"Do you have enough? I don't want to rob you of your money," Hotaru said a little bit meekly.

"No no! It's totally fine! I have a ton of it with me! Besides, like I said, this place has really cheap food. Come on! It's right around the corner so we can walk!" Hikage said as he took Hotaru by the hand and dragged her away from the naginata dojo, complete with her gear.

"But...do you have a ride home? Do your parents know?" Hotaru asked.

"Yep! I told them! Dad's picking me up! You should probably tell your folks, too!" Hikage told her.

"Sure. I will as soon as we get there," Hotaru said as she allowed herself to be dragged by her newly acquired friend. Her heart was already beginning to race with anticipation, bewilderment, and sheer joy.

The restaurant they went to isn't anything fancy. It's merely just a nice little food place. It's called The Lion's Den. When Hikage and Hotaru arrived, she stopped to give her parents a call, letting them know what she's doing, and she said she'll call when she needs to be picked up. The inside of the restaurant is very nice. All the walls are painted crimson red, giving it a very regal look. There are round tables with beige, cushion seats, normal tables with chairs, and little tables on the outer deck, overlooking the main street. There are some small, bronze lion statues sitting out in front of the store. They're not fancy, but they definitely give off the impression of the place really being a lion's den. Soft, muted jazz music played in the background. The little cylinder-shaped lights that hung from the ceiling shone in a muted gold color, not too bright and not too cold, easy on the eyes. Little TVs hung from other parts of the restaurant, playing either the news channel or sports games. Hotaru and Hikage didn't really want to watch any TV. They just wanted to enjoy their dinner. Hotaru ordered some spaghetti and meatballs while Hikage ordered a personal favorite of his: cheese ravioli. As they ate their food, they told jokes and laughed and had a good old time.

"So, the officer says, _'Your eyes are bloodshot. Have you been drinking?'_ and the guy says to the police officer, _'Why, yer eyes look glazed. Have ya been eatin' donuts?'_" Hikage said while laughing, which made Hotaru burst into very hearty and joyful laughter as well. Once they calmed down, they took some more bites of their food.

"You sure have a great sense of humor," Hotaru told him, her smile radiant like a newly blooming sunflower, her eyes shining like stars in a night sky.

"You think so? It's not THAT great," Hikage said ruefully, rubbing his head of hair with his left hand, his face turning a little red like the meat sauce on Hotaru's spaghetti. "Oh! That reminds me! Where do you live?"

"I actually live right near Hikaribashi Middle School," Hotaru told him, unknowingly glancing at a young girl with orange braids sitting with two older women some tables down from where she is.

"Hey! Riko goes there!" Hikage exclaimed happily.

"Here's my address," Hotaru said as she pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper, wrote on it, and gave it to Hikage. He opened it and found that it read, in very beautiful Kanji, _974 Kamiyama Boulevard_.

"Oh! I know where that is! That's the route Mom takes when she takes Riko to school!" Hikage exclaimed.

Soon, Hotaru's smile faded just a little bit, and her eyes adopted a slightly concerned glint. "Speaking of which, umm...sorry if this sounds like I'm meddling, but...your younger sister...Riko, right? Umm...I noticed that when I came over, she seemed afraid of me."

"Riko? Afraid of you?" Hikage asked, a little flummoxed by the sudden change in subject.

"It looked that way. She seemed nervous, like I frightened her. Did I do something bad?" Hotaru asked tenderly.

"No no no. It's not you at all. Riko's just really shy around new people. Plus...I have a question for you. Do you know what Autism is?" Hikage told her reassuringly, then asked his own question.

"Autism? Oh! Isn't that a neurological disorder? I hear it impairs communication and that anyone who's autistic loves routine," Hotaru replied.

"Sorta. It means someone's brain is wired differently than normal, which kinda alters the way they perceive the world and heightens their senses quite a bit. Riko's autistic. She's not too good with socializing with people, especially with kids her own age. Plus, she sticks out like a sore thumb in general, often pretending to be her made-up anime characters, getting anxious at little things, rocking back and forth and flapping her hands when she's in distress, being sensitive to loud noises like yelling, explosions, and rap music, hating dresses and skirts and make-up, and being more obsessed with anime, manga, games, and books than going out with boys and gossiping and all that kinda stuff. But she's not a bad person," Hikage explained as lucidly as he could, hoping he explained it in a way she can understand.

"I see," Hotaru said.

"She's real nice. She's the sweetest kid I know. She's nice, kind, gentle, loves animals, and is way cooler than any other girl I've met. But…"

"But what?" Hotaru noticed that Hikage started to grow dejected. She then noticed the two women from earlier looking like they're about to go outside for a bit, leaving the girl with braids alone at the table.

"...She hasn't had the best of experiences back at our old town. Technically, she's high functioning, and is very capable of learning. But she has a bit of a tendency to be kinda tactless and sometimes say and do inappropriate things that most people find unacceptable in public, like pretend play acting or saying something she doesn't understand is bad. She often has a hard time coming up with the right words to say stuff, and that made a lot of people think she's being rude or malicious or mean, which she isn't. But...back at our old place, people treated her like she was a spoiled brat who threw tantrums and ruined everything all the time, both kids and adults. She's practically had no friends her own age all her life. The people there were very closed-minded, and anything that was strange to them was automatically bad. Some teachers in Riko's elementary school thought she was some bad kid who picked on everyone else, when other kids were the ones picking on her, and the teachers made it worse by taking their side and yelling at Mom and Dad, saying garbage about them not _"disciplining"_ her correctly. It made me real sad, to see Riko get demonized by pretty much everybody just for being different. One school outright told us that she wasn't fit to be in the education system at all. Heck, we even got a stupid hate letter from some stupid person telling us to euthanize her or throw her to the pedophiles," Hikage told her sadly.

"Did she go to other schools?" Hotaru asked, appalled by what she just heard.

"Yeah. Mom and Dad found a good middle school for her, but it took a LONG time for her to get there because the other school fought to keep her in there so they can preserve their reputation. She did have nice teachers at the last school she went to before we moved, but kids were still mean to her. One kid even tried shoving dog droppings in her face, and one teacher often humiliated her in front of class a lot for just about everything. Mom and Dad were fuming," Hikage replied.

Hotaru donned a serious look. "I don't see why people have to demonize someone just because they act differently from other kids. I don't think wearing make-up and making out with boys and wearing skimpy clothes is good at all. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to be different, and they shouldn't jump to conclusions just because her behavior is a little strange. Just because something is strange doesn't make it bad!"

Hikage smiled again after hearing that. "I think Riko'd be glad to hear that. But she's been so traumatized that she doubts pretty much everybody, even potentially good people. I don't blame her. I would be too if people treated me the way she was treated. It doesn't help that Rina is always telling her how weird she is and how she's way more normal than her. In fact-" Hikage was about to go on, but a loud scream stopped him from doing so. Hotaru and Hikage turned their heads toward the source of the scream in alarm.

The scream came from the young girl with braids. Two rogue boys with spiky and unattractive hair cuts spilled a glass of water all over her, making her soaking wet.

"Ey yo! Word on the street is that you got two mommies!" The kid with spiky black hair exclaimed maliciously, holding the glass in his hand.

"You gonna be gay just like them?! I bet you're a lesbian and don't even know it! That's real freaky, know 'dat?!" The boy with pale brown spiky hair exclaimed viciously.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" The girl screamed tearfully, really perturbed by their blatantly homophobic and jingoistic rancor. She shivered with cold due to the ice cold water being spilled on her head, then seeping into her clothes.

"We'll leave ya alone when your skanky moms stop being skanky lesbians!" The brown haired boy sneered.

"Oh whuuuut? You gonna cry now? It ain't our fault your moms are a bunch of homos!" The black haired boy teased viciously.

"Nobody likes a kid who's got homos for parents! You gonna be a homo too?! You better cry, ya lil homo lesbian!"

Already, Hotaru felt every nerve in her body snap like a pair of scissors cut some string. Appalled by those malicious boys and their inopportune behavior, she was NOT going to let them get away with their nefarious calumny. Her alarmed look very quickly morphed into one of complete anger, albeit in a calm way. She slammed her fist on the table, stood up, stomped over to the rowdy, insensitive boys, leaving a speechless Hikage at the table, grabbed the brown haired boy's left arm, and twisted it behind his back in a weird angle, making him yelp in pain. She wasted absolutely no time at all.

"Owwww!" The boy screamed in pain as soon as he felt his arm get pulled behind his back against his will. "Let go of me!" He yelled again. Angrily, she let the boy go.

"What's your problem?!" The black haired boy yelled, angered by her entrance and interference. Everyone else in the restaurant turned to watch the fiasco.

Hotaru kept them frozen in place with an extremely icy stare. Literally. "It's embarrassing to make a big scene in the middle of a restaurant. People are staring at you. You know that, right?" Hotaru told them sternly, in an icy voice. Even Hikage couldn't help but shiver at her mercilessness, and it wasn't just because of her icy voice either.

"What's it to you, ya drama queen?!" The brown haired boy yelled petulantly.

"Yeah! Dey ain't starin' at us! Dey just starin' at her!" The black haired boy, audaciously pointing at the girl he and his partner in crime spilled water on just seconds ago without any mercy. "She's got freakin' lesbians for moms, and dat's major gross, yo!"

Out of nowhere, he felt something hard press onto his foot, causing it to pulsate and him to yell out in pain. "YEOOOWCH!"

Her last nerve had been hit. Hotaru seriously had to struggle to keep herself from making an even bigger scene by blowing up. She was surprised she was able to keep her composure like this. "That's what you get for being a bully. You think it's funny to make fun of someone who has two mothers? They're just parents who happen to be the same gender, and they love each other and their child! There's nothing wrong with that! So what if they're the same gender? You don't have the right to deride them for loving each other, and that doesn't make it right for you to pick on someone just because of that. She never did anything to you, and neither did her parents! If it's really that big of a problem to you, I suggest you leave right now."

"Why should we? It's a free country, yo! We dun need no ugly homos here!" The brown haired boy snapped petulantly with his arms crossed.

"Where are your parents? Because I'd honestly take GREAT pleasure in telling them about this so they can ground you and punish you however they please," Hotaru told them sternly.

"Hanae!" All of a sudden, the two women from before returned to the table, but stopped when they saw Hotaru and the rowdy little homophobic boys standing in front of it. "What's going on? And who are you?" The woman with a caramel ponytail asked, flummoxed.

"Are you this girl's parents?" Hotaru asked kindly.

"Yes. Is something wrong?" The woman with the frizzy orange hair asked.

"These very naughty little boys here spilled water on your daughter and are picking on her because of your sexual orientation, calling her names like homo and lesbian and making a big deal about your marriage," Hotaru told them.

"EY! Why you snitchin' on me, yo?!" The black haired boy screamed angrily, clearly perturbed by the fact that Hotaru is being bold enough to tell on him. She paid absolutely no heed.

"Is this true, Hanae?" The ponytailed woman asked her daughter, Hanae. The girl nodded dejectedly. The frizzy haired woman suddenly exploded with anger.

"Get out, you vermin! I said GET OUT!" The frizzy haired woman yelled vociferously, frightening the two boys with her booming voice, pointing to the restaurant door. "Next time you pick on my daughter, you're gonna get a good spanking, and I'll be sure to find your parents and have them teach you a thing or two about picking on other people! You better leave if you know what's good for you!" She yelled again.

Frightened and busted, the boys petulantly and reluctantly fled the restaurant. The minute they left, everyone else in the restaurant suddenly broke into applause, like they saw the best rock concert they ever saw. Someone even whistled.

"Woooo!" Someone yelled.

"You go, girl!"

"You showed those homophobes!"

Hotaru's blue eyes widened with bewilderment once she calmed down and returned to her normal self. _'They're cheering for me? Or are they cheering for the mother?'_ Hotaru thought. But she found herself blushing just a little bit, slightly abashed by all the cheering and the attention. However, she had to admit, it felt nice to be exalted for doing a good deed. Even Hikage was beaming with joy and clapping on her behalf. The only person who wasn't happy about this occasion at all was the little girl, Hanae, who looked like she had just been mercilessly humiliated in front of everyone in the worst way possible. Hotaru wound up noticing, and wondered if a red flag was being set up. As soon as the cheering faded, the ponytailed woman approached Hotaru with a smile.

"Thanks for sticking up for my daughter while we were away. I wish we'd have come sooner," The ponytailed woman told her, expressing her gratitude verbally and with a graceful bow.

"It's no big deal. Besides, I have two dads of my own, so I know what it's like. I'm just glad nothing worse happened," Hotaru told her. She then looked down at Hanae. "What's your name?"

"Tanaka Hanae…" She muttered softly but sadly.

"If anyone does that to you again, tell someone about it. Okay?" Hotaru told her with a smile, but Hanae didn't say anything in response while still keeping her dejected look.

Soon, everyone finished their dinner, paid their checks, and left, including Hanae and her mothers. But Hotaru noticed that even when they left, Hanae still looked sad, like a pet cat had died. She was pulled out of her reverie by Hikage.

"You were awesome back there, Hotaru!" Hikage exalted happily, lauding her for her altruistic act.

"I wasn't that awesome. I've had that happen to me a lot, so...it was kinda force of habit," Hotaru told him shyly.

"So what? You're still awesome in my book! I kinda wanted to stand up to them myself, but you beat me to it," Hikage told her.

"Sorry I stole the spotlight from you," Hotaru told him.

Soon, their parents picked them up and took them home. Meanwhile, in the town where Riko's school is, a silver BMW pulled into the driveway of a pretty dark brown house. Out from the BMW came Hanae and her two mothers. The frizzy haired woman was the first to go inside, with her wife and still dejected daughter following. Once they got inside, the frizzy haired woman turned to look at her ponytailed wife. "Hisako. Can you go get a towel and a new shirt for Hana-chan?"

"Sure thing, Miki!" The caramell haired woman, Hisako, said as she ran to the bathroom to get a towel for Hanae, whose hair is still somewhat wet, with some droplets of water dripping onto the rug. Miki, the frizzy haired woman, kneeled in front of the dejected Hanae and looked her in the eye.

"Those boys were making fun of you, weren't they?" Miki asked with a solemn tone in her voice. Hanae nodded abjectly. Hisako came in with a fresh towel and a fresh top for Hanae. Miki took the towel and rubbed it on Hanae's wet hair, drying it off just a little.

"Does this happen in school, too?" Miki asked as she rubbed Hanae's hair with the towel. Hanae nodded again, just as grimly. "I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. But if someone's picking on you, you HAVE to tell us or a teacher, okay?"

"I already did!" Hanae suddenly piped in grimly. "I already told every teacher I know! But it never stops! It never has and it never will!" Hanae suddenly shouted, grabbed the towel and throwing it on the floor like it was a piece of garbage. Miki looked aghast with her daughter's sudden outburst. All of a sudden, Hanae ran for the front door, flung it open, and ran right out.

"Hanae! Hanae, come back!" Miki tried to go after her, but Hanae was already too far ahead for her to chase her.

* * *

"Any luck finding them?" Riko asked when Sunbeam and Moonbeam came into her room as she was drawing more manga-esque characters.

They both shook their heads grimly. "No. Still no luck," Sunbeam muttered abjectly, her golden eyes losing more and more of their shine and cheerful glint.

"But we're not giving up. It's only the second day, and there's still so much ground to cover," Moonbeam said, hoping to sound somewhat optimistic.

"She's right. The world's a big big place, so it's not hard to see why you can't find them right off," Riko told them, agreeing with Moonbeam's sentiment.

"Yeah. We better go look again," Sunbeam said as she darted out the window.

"If anything happens, one of us will come and get you, okay?" Moonbeam told Riko. She didn't say anything in response, but Moonbeam had already flitted off before Riko could respond. Riko didn't mind though. She just went back to drawing more pictures of Twilight Cat. She wanted to draw more, but she saw Rina come into her room. However, instead of giving her accusatory looks or yelling at her about her usual behavioral eccentricities and social inappropriateness like she usually did, she looked rather dejected, and she had a piece of paper in her hand. Riko didn't feel any need to be angry this time.

"What's wrong, Rina?" Riko asked curiously.

"Sorry to bother you, but...can you help me with my homework?" Rina asked sadly as she showed Riko the worksheet. Riko looked over it, happy that it isn't math, as she's not very good at it. Surprisingly, it's about hiragana writing, and she could tell from the myriad of smeared ink and eraser marks that she's just not getting one of the new symbols wrong.

"What seems to be the problem?" Riko asked.

"I can't remember what _'ne'_ looks like. I know that one is _'re,'_ and _'ne'_ looks like it, but how do I tell the difference?" Rina explained, pointing to the hiragana symbol she was referring to.

"I see. It's not that hard to tell the difference. See, _'ne'_ is written like this," Riko said as she grabbed a pencil and wrote the hiragana symbol for ne. "See? _'Ne'_ is exactly like _'re,'_ but it has a little loop here. That better?" Riko explained, hoping Rina would understand.

Immediately, Rina's face beamed like a newly installed light bulb, and her previous sadness faded like it was never there in the first place. "Ohhhh! I get it now! Yay! Thanks, Oneechan!" Rina cheered and hugged her big sister. Riko just turned her head away, focusing only on her Twilight Cat drawings. She definitely understood. Once Rina finished hugging Riko, she grabbed her homework and ran back into her room to finish it.

Her room's walls are painted white, and there are lots of Barbie dolls and stuffed animals laying all over her floor, but a big unicorn plushie that's white with purple hair, blue marble eyes, black hooves, and a golden horn, sat on her bed like it was its throne. There are also some games and a game console lying on her bed as well. She has a little desk in her room that's made of mahogany, with a little chair to match. Rina put a cotton candy pink cushion on it to make it easier to sit on. Unlike Riko, Rina only has a few books on her desk, and lots of frilly clothes in her closet and drawers for a girl her age, like dresses, skirts, and anything that's new and trendy. There's also a tall mirror on the inside of her closet door, so she can dress up and see how she looks. After a few minutes, she filled out the last piece of her worksheet.

"Yay! I'm done! I think I'll get an A on this one!" Rina cheered as she put the worksheet in her bookbag, zipped it up, and left it alone.

* * *

Hanae ran toward a clearing in the woods in tears, not realizing that she had gone in rather deep. But once she got tired enough, she stopped in front of a small, clear pond surrounded by teensy little clover blossoms, and sat right down in front of it. She didn't care if she was lost at this point. She didn't care at all. She wanted to get away. Get away from all the hate, all the prejudice, all the mean names, all the insults, all the bad things that came with having homosexual parents, away from the kids who picked on her at school, away from everything. The bonfire that was her depression had yet another piece of wood thrown into the base of it, allowing it to burn longer than it should have.

She looked down at the pond. It was perfectly pristine and lucid, so she was able to see herself in the reflection perfectly. A little girl with orange hair tied into little braids and deep brown eyes. But that wasn't what she saw. She saw someone who's ugly, worthless, stupid, and gross. Everyone at school always told her stuff like that...and as of now, she believed them. She turned right around as soon as the bad memories flooded into her mind. She didn't want to see herself or anything else. The floodgates in her eyes were finally forced open, and the tears she had been trying so hard to hide popped right out. Falling to her knees, she wailed vociferously, scaring away the birds that had been perched in the trees into flying to someplace farther away. Her passionate cries echoed amongst the trees. But she didn't care. Nobody was watching, and nobody could tell her to shut up or stop crying or get over it. She was alone, and that's great. She could do whatever she wanted if she was alone. Nobody would stop her.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't alone.

"Huh?" Moonbeam's ears twitched as she flew, and she stopped in the air as soon as they did.

"What's up, Moonbeam?" Sunbeam asked, stopping once she noticed Moonbeam behind her.

"Do you hear someone crying?" Moonbeam asked.

"Hmm...huh. Now that you mention it, I do. But shouldn't finding Starbeam and Lovebeam be more important?" Sunbeam said.

"Yes. But I don't like turning my back on people who are sad. Who knows? Maybe it's one of them!" Moonbeam exclaimed as she flitted toward the woods. Sunbeam sighed and followed her. Once they got close enough, they hid in a bush in case anyone was around. It didn't take too long for them to find the source of the crying, which turned out to be Hanae. Sunbeam sighed.

"Gawww. It's just a little girl," Sunbeam complained.

"But I wonder why she's so sad?" Moonbeam asked, her concern still lingering.

"Beats me," Sunbeam said. She was about to fly away until an eerie feeling zipped up her spine like a rattlesnake. She looked up at a tree on the other side of the pond to find the source of it.

A person, with silver hair lying on one of the big branches, staring up at the evergreen leaves insouciantly, without a care in the world.

"Moonbeam. Look," Sunbeam tugged at her sister's fur and pointed to the tree. When Moonbeam saw who was on it, she almost yelped, but her paws flew to her mouth once she saw the figure lying on the big tree branch.

"Zenjin!" Moonbeam chirped.

Yes, it was none other than Zenjin lying on that big tree branch. But he isn't doing anything or causing any trouble right now. He's simply just lying on the branch, staring at the disgustingly evergreen leaves insouciantly, like he was bored and had nothing to do. But just his presence was enough to make Moonbeam and Sunbeam freeze with fear.

"We need to stop him! If he finds out that girl is there, he might do something horrible to her or worse!" Sunbeam exclaimed as she was about to fly up to the tree where he's sitting, but Moonbeam grabbed one of her ears tightly.

"No! He's too powerful! You saw how we failed to stop him the last time!" Moonbeam piped in.

"But we can't just sit here and do nothing!" Sunbeam argued, surprised that her younger sister isn't willing to take any action against Zenjin, who she knows could easily do horrible things thanks to his newly acquired powers.

"I know that. I feel the same way you do. But we have to be rational. Think about it. This might be a good opportunity. If we stay quiet, we might be able to act without him knowing. You stay here and keep an eye on Zenjin and the little girl. I'll go and get Riko and have her help us," Moonbeam whispered quietly so as to not alert Zenjin to their presence.

"But Riko's a newbie! Sure she's a Pretty Cure, but she can't fight her way out of a paper bag!" Sunbeam argued in a hushed voice.

"There's no other option! It's better than nothing, right? Now stay here, and do NOT do anything rash or anything that'll attract their attention! Okay?" Moonbeam retorted sternly and flitted away to go and get Riko, leaving Sunbeam alone in the woods with Zenjin and Hanae, both unaware of their presence.

"Why doesn't she ever let me knock his lights out? He deserves it for what he's done!" Sunbeam grumbled irritably. The terrible memory of Rozaniela getting destroyed by his hand lingered in her brain again. The malicious, remorseless, guiltless look he had in his eyes was enough to make Sunbeam explode in anger that day. Oh, how she yearned to make Zenjin pay for what he did to their precious home. How dare he thank them for their years of kindness by stealing the Energia, absorbing it, and leaving Rozaniela a complete mess! What did they do to deserve this? Sunbeam desperately wanted answers, and she knew staying here wasn't going to help her get any. But she knew that if she disobeyed Moonbeam, she'd leave them open for more of Zenjin's treachery, and possibly put an innocent life in danger. Rozaniela getting destroyed was bad enough already. Sunbeam couldn't bear to put Earth civilians through the same fate. Reluctantly, Sunbeam stayed quiet, hoping nothing would happen.

Unfortunately for her, her prayers weren't answered, as Hanae and Zenjin would end up noticing each other anyway.

Hanae, unaware of the presences of both Sunbeam and Zenjin, picked up a rock that was nearby, stood up, and squeezed it with her hand, hoping to use it as an outlet for her sadness and rancor. But squeezing it wasn't enough. Her heart was still being attacked by conflicting feelings, and the abject look on her face made it clear that she didn't like what she was feeling. "Why's having two moms so bad? Why can't I have a dad like everyone else?! This is so stupid!" Hanae yelled as she threw the big rock toward the sky, hoping that throwing it would help in releasing some of her stress. But it didn't just fly toward the sky.

It fell right on the silver haired figure's head.

"OW!"

Sunbeam, witnessing this, allowed her paws to fly to her mouth. "Oh no!"

"Huh?" Hanae, surprised by the sound, looked up to find the silver haired person lying on a branch, sitting right up and rubbing his pulsating head in pain. He was there the whole time and she didn't notice until just now? She couldn't believe she was completely oblivious to his presence until now...and the rock she threw fell on his head! How could she have been so careless? Her mothers would surely be angry with her if they found out, even though it was an accident.

"Who threw that at me?!" Zenjin yelled angrily, like he had been insulted.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you up there!" Hanae cried out, hoping to make amends with him and let him know that she didn't mean it. "It was an accident! Please don't be mad!"

Sadly for both Hanae and Sunbeam, Zenjin turned around and eyed the apologetic girl with a very rancor-filled look on his pale white face. He wasn't just mad. He looked like he was about to explode in an unstoppable paroxysm of jingoistic rancor and rage! The apology she made didn't mollify his anger, not even a little bit. Suddenly, Zenjin leaped off of the branch and landed right in front of Hanae, causing her to run back a few steps, surprised by the fact that he can jump so far and so elegantly, without stumbling into the pond or falling right in. How can anyone do that? There shouldn't be anyone who could do that unless they had superpowers. But regardless, Zenjin's anger did not simmer, not even as he looked into the frightened girl's eyes with his own bloodshot red ones.

"You're going to pay for that, you trash!" Zenjin yelled as he threw a ball of purple light at her. Thankfully, Hanae evaded it and ran as fast as she could, knowing the repercussions would be perilous if she stayed. Unbeknownst to her or Zenjin, Sunbeam followed them to make sure nothing bad happens. He was a stranger, and she had it drilled into her head that if a stranger approached her or attacked her, she had no run no matter what...and that's exactly what she did. She ran as fast as she could, even though Zenjin is right on her tail. She made it to the street, but there was hardly anyone on it. But that didn't stop her. If there was nobody here, she'd find someone.

"Help! Someone help me! A stranger's attacking me!" Hanae yelled as loud as she could as she ran to the best of her ability, hoping it would get someone's attention. But no one answered her pleas. Before she could run any further, a thicket of vines suddenly wrapped around her, stopping her from running any further.

"No! Let me go!" Hanae yelled as she struggled to break free, but nothing worked. Zenjin had finally caught up with her. With a snap of his fingers, a big orange wall popped out from the street like a prairie dog. The vines slammed her onto it and loosened up, allowing the steel restraints to appear and lock her in. Once the restraints kept her firmly on it, the vines disappeared, and a Soul Portal appeared in front of her. But before he could do anything…

"You leave her alone, you bully!" A yellow ray of light suddenly knocked him off his feet, causing him to fall on the concrete. Sunbeam appeared in between him and the mortally frightened Hanae, and she was NOT looking happy. Neither was Zenjin.

"Get out of my way, you orange trash!" Zenjin screamed as he tried to grab her, but Sunbeam suddenly enveloped herself in a yellow light, flashing so bright that it blinded him to the point where he had to cover his eyes, rendering him unable to do anything.

"You deal with ME! Leave her out of this!" Sunbeam yelled valiantly, like a knight in shining armor trying to protect its princess, only Sunbeam is a girl and a fairy, completely vulnerable with no armor of any form of defenses whatsoever. But she wasn't going to let that stop her from giving Zenjin a well-deserved piece of her mind in the form of a beatdown.

"Someone...HELP MEEEEE!" Hanae screamed as the brouhaha went on around her.

She thought no one would hear her pleas, like usual. But unbeknownst to her, someone did.

"Huh?" Hotaru stopped in the middle of a nearby street with her naginata on her back. She looked behind her, wondering if her imagination was playing tricks on her. But as it turned out, it wasn't. She heard very angry sounding voices coming from a few streets down. Was there a fight going on? Was someone being attacked?

"Over here! I see them, Riko-chan!"

Then, Hotaru saw Moonbeam and Riko run toward that part of the street.

'_Is she…? No! She can't!'_ Hotaru thought with concern and worry consuming her like a tsunami. She ran after Moonbeam and Riko.

As for Sunbeam...things aren't going well. Despite her best efforts, Zenjin threw another ray of light at her, throwing her against a tree. After that, he wasted absolutely no time in walking up to the mortally frightened and helpless Hanae, grabbing her Soul Portal, and shoving his face in it, resulting in Hanae screaming and crying louder than any other time in her life. She struggled and tried to break free, but nothing was working, and she was in too much pain to do anything more. After a couple seconds, Zenjin pulled his face out of it, but his anger didn't subside.

"You think you've got it rough? How arrogant! My suffering is far greater than yours, you selfish tramp!" Zenjin yelled as he put his hand in the Soul Portal and tried to grab her soul.

All of a sudden, he found himself struck by a very strong blow, causing him to fall to the ground again. But like before, he was successful in yanking out Hanae's soul. When he got up, he found feet pressing on his body and a naginata whose blade is dangerously close to his face.

And Hotaru was standing on him, not letting him go for one second. She stared him down with a very angry and courageous glint in her eyes, with the naginata at his face like she wanted to slash him.

"If you know what's good for you, I suggest you leave this poor girl alone!" Hotaru exclaimed bravely.

Right then and there, Riko and Moonbeam arrived on the scene, and stopped as soon as they saw Hotaru standing on top of Zenjin, threatening her with her naginata. Immediately, Riko became fearful. _'Oh no! What's she doing here?! I can't transform if she's around! But she probably...knows about Zenjin's powers...'_ Riko stammered fearfully.

All of a sudden, the orb in Zenjin's hands floated into the air and grew to a very large size, not unlike the giant fox from that other time. But instead of turning into a giant black fox, it's now a giant black ostrich. As soon as they saw the transformation, Zenjin knocked Hotaru off of him and flew away.

"Come back heeeere!" Sunbeam tried to go after him, but she was too weak to give chase.

"_Why do I have...two moms? Why does everyone think it's bad I have two moms?! Why don't I have a dad like everyone else?!"_ The black ostrich yelled as it suddenly dashed into town.

"That's...Hanae's voice!" Hotaru exclaimed. She turned around to find the unconscious Hanae lying on the ground with her Soul Portal bare and exposed. She scooped the unconscious girl in her arms and turned to look at Riko, who froze upon seeing her.

Riko thought she was looking at her with a suspicious, hate-filled look until Hotaru opened her mouth. "Aren't you going to transform?" She asked.

"Uh...what?" Riko asked, confused. But she had an idea of what she was talking about, and this was what she feared the most.

"You ARE Cure Twilight, aren't you?" Hotaru said.

Riko wanted to scream. She really wanted to, but she couldn't for some reason. All she could croak out was, "How...how do you know?!"

"I was taking a stroll, and I saw you transform. It's okay. I'm not mad. Come on. This girl needs your help!" Hotaru said.

Knowing what was at stake, Riko shrugged her fears off of her, pulled out her purple Heart Lighter, and quickly transformed into Cure Twilight. Now Hotaru knows about her. Riko wanted to scream and freak out, but there isn't time for that.

"How do we catch up to that big ostrich?" Riko asked.

"Oh! I know!" Moonbeam exclaimed as she rummaged through her fur and pulled out a little piece of candy wrapped in a rainbow-like wrapper. She handed it to Riko.

"What's this?" Riko asked.

"It's Empowerment Candy! It's a type of candy that gives you more powers! But different colors give you different powers. That yellow one will give you super speed and super strength! But it only lasts for a little while though," Moonbeam exclaimed as Riko undid the wrapper and found the yellow candy inside.

"Might as well give it a try," Riko said as she wrapped her free hand around Hotaru's arm and ate the yellow candy. Moonbeam and Sunbeam clung to her as soon as she ate it. Then, completely out of nowhere, Riko glowed in a yellow light and literally zipped out of the area so fast she thought she had turned invisible. She wasn't sure where she was going, and how to stop for that matter.

"Yeeeeeeek! How do I stoooooop?! I'm going tooooo faaaaaast!" Riko screamed, unable to comprehend the fact that she's going faster than she ever did before and the fact that her body isn't giving out from running so much. All of a sudden, she stopped glowing and she stopped running, finding herself to be quite out of breath. She was surprised to find that she dragged Moonbeam, Sunbeam, Hotaru, and the unconscious Hanae along with her. How did she do that? Moonbeam did say yellow empowerment candies give her super speed and strength. Could that be it? Once she regained her equanimity, she found herself and the others a couple streets down from the school.

"Why are we at my school?" Riko asked.

"Look! There's the ostrich!" Sunbeam exclaimed, which prompted everyone to be on their guard.

"_I want a dad! It's their fault everyone picks on me at school every single day! No matter who I tell, it'll never stop!"_ The black ostrich screamed in Hanae's voice as it suddenly stopped in front of a dark brown house. As soon as it approached the house, Hisako came out through the front door, followed by Miki.

"What's going on out here?!" Hisako yelped, then screamed once she saw the giant ostrich looming over them with a look that literally screamed intent to kill.

Hotaru's eyes widened. "Those are Hanae's parents! No!" Hotaru yelled as she put Hanae in a safe spot, got her naginata out and leaped onto the ostrich's rear end. She managed to climb on its back before it felt her presence, and once it did, it started shaking out of control, hoping to throw her off. But Hotaru clung to its fur tightly with just one hand, with her naginata in her other hand.

"_They should die! It's their fault everybody hates me!"_ The ostrich yelled as he tried to shoo Hotaru off of its back. But instead of getting thrown off, Hotaru took her naginata and stabbed the ostrich in the back, causing it to roar in pain. But nothing came out of the wound though, because the naginata wasn't shoved in too deep. Riko, not wanting to stand by, decided to help out. She got her claws out and leaped toward the roaring ostrich.

"Cat Slash!" She slashed the ostrich's face with her claws and it roared in pain, allowing Hotaru to cling to its neck and give it a kick right on its throat. She then hopped off and proceeded to cut one of the ostrich's legs with her naginata, this time giving it a fresh wound. Riko then leaped toward it and gave it a few punches and kicks, but it wasn't enough to completely render the giant black ostrich helpless. But as soon as it regained its equanimity, it knocked Riko against a tree and ran toward the brown house.

Aiming right for Hisako and Miki.

"No! Hanae! Don't!" Hotaru yelled.

"_It's all your fault...you're the reason everyone picks on me at school! You should DIE!"_ The ostrich yelled angrily and was about to swallow the frightened Hisako and Miki. But Hotaru, despite being injured, ran in between them and aimed her naginata at the gigantic beak. However, this valiant attempt at saving them was in vain, as the ostrich yanked the naginata out of her hand (Hotaru let go so she wouldn't get dragged with it) and threw it away like it was trash. It looked like it was about to come and attack them again, but this time, it didn't. Instead, the ostrich just kept looking away, like it was trying really hard to suppress the urge to kill, to suppress its bloodlust. Hotaru even saw something she never expected to see out of a monster.

Tears.

"Hanae…" Hotaru muttered softly to herself once Hisako and Miki toward the spot where Hanae's vessel is laying. Not even Riko and the fairies could believe their eyes. The ostrich is actually crying!

"_NO! I don't wanna kill my parents! So what if I don't have a dad?! At least...they love me! They love me, do stuff with me, help me with my homework, stood up to those mean kids at the restaurant, and all that stuff! Other kids don't have parents at all, and other kids have parents who are mean to them! I...I can't kill my moms! They love me! I shouldn't...be doing this!"_ The ostrich cried desperately, like it was yearning for someone to end its suffering. It kept on shaking, like it was resisting the urge to fight and do more damage than it already did.

Hotaru clenched her fists and looked up at the ostrich with a courageous yet warm glint in her eyes...and a smile. "You're right! You're absolutely right, Hanae! It doesn't matter if you have two mothers for parents, and who cares if other kids don't like it! There's nothing wrong with that! What matters is that they love you, regardless of their gender or orientation! I have two fathers myself! I know what it's like to be angry at them, and...other people pick on me because of it too! But I stopped blaming my parents for my suffering long ago! That's because I learned that it's better to be surrounded by people who love you, no matter what orientation or sexuality they have! There's absolutely nothing wrong with having gay parents!" Hotaru shouted for all to hear.

* * *

"What?!" Starbeam, as she sat down on a bush to take a rest, suddenly found something in her ribbon glowing in an ocean blue light. "The Heart Lighter's reacting!" She exclaimed, surprised.

The blue light popped out from her ribbon, increased in size somewhat, and suddenly darted away like it was a hummingbird who was trying to go over the mountains in a big hurry. Starbeam was suddenly left alone again.

"Wait! Heart Lighter! Don't leave me here!" Starbeam stammered as she tried to fly after it, but she found herself to be far too exhausted to continue on, falling on the grass as a result.

Starbeam had no idea where the Heart Lighter was headed. But it knew where it wanted to go, and it wasted no time in getting there.

It took a few minutes for it to arrive, but it appeared right in front of Hotaru. Understandably, everyone became quite confused. The blue light appeared in front of Hotaru, dissipated, and out came a pretty, blue, glass, star-shaped perfume bottle. But instead of a heart shaped cap, it had a star shaped cap on it. Then the blue Heart Lighter itself glowed in a radiant blue light. Hotaru grabbed it, twisted the star shaped cap, and yanked it off. Then a light left the Heart Lighter and floated in front of her. As soon as she touched it, the light dissipated, and out came a little blue star shaped jewel. The blue Heart Lighter glowed for a bit, then the light dissipated, leaving a hollow, star shaped cavity in the middle of it.

Riko had seen this before. She knew what it meant.

"Minamigawa-san! Put that jewel in the hole in that perfume bottle!" Riko commanded.

"I don't get it, but...I might as well do it, if it means saving Hanae!" Hotaru exclaimed courageously as she put the jewel inside.

Just like with Riko before her, Hotaru got swallowed up by a large, blue light. But she wasn't afraid at all. In fact, she seemed to be thrilled.

"Pretty Cure, let the light shine!" She shouted as she held the Heart Lighter in the air. The star object dissolved into the perfume bottle, not only filling in the gap, but filling the bottle with a kind of translucent lavender liquid.

Just like Riko did, Hotaru spun around in circles and sprayed it all over herself, but she did it in a more swift and elegant way. As soon as the perfume made contact with her normal clothes, they changed completely! Instead of her black skinny jeans, purple and pinkish purple smock with a big red ribbon on the front and medium length sleeves, brown laced boots, and her silver hooped earrings, Hotaru found herself donning a sleeveless blue and white tank top with blue stars going down the chest part, with no straps or anything of the sort, along with some lacy, pointed white frills on each side of them and with a pair of darker blue shorts. A large, dark blue ribbon appeared on her shirt with a shiny pale blue star on it. On both of her arms are armbands with white lace frills and stars circling them. A small, pale blue, blanket-like cloth with darker blue pockets on each side wrapped around her waist, with the ends connected to the front by a pale blue star belt-like decoration. Dangling from both of her ears are large, silver hoop earrings with three little pale blue stars dangling from the bottom of them both. Her raven black hair suddenly got dyed blue, like the ocean, but it was still kept in a braid, only with a lighter blue ribbon at the end. A pale blue hair clip shaped like a star with a white wing hanging from it clipped onto part of her bangs. A blue star tattoo appeared on her left shoulder. She is now wearing a pair of very tall, dark blue boots, going just a little below her knees, with lighter blue stars on them, and they each donned pairs of little white wings on each boot. Her Heart Lighter dangled from her shorts like a key chain. Dark blue, fingerless gloves covered her hands. But unlike Riko, she doesn't have any animal-like decorations on her costume. Soon, the light dissipated, bringing her back to earth, looking very radiant, like the stars in the night sky.

"She's...she's a Pretty Cure now?! Awesome!" Riko exclaimed happily.

"One of the Heart Lighters resonated with her! Of course she's a Pretty Cure!" Sunbeam exclaimed with a big smile.

Riko expected her to react badly to the news that she's an official Pretty Cure, or the fact that she suddenly turned into a random superhero at all. But much to her surprise, Hotaru wasn't phased by her new transformation at all. She wasn't even scared. She didn't question it at all. She just relished the fact that she's now a Pretty Cure.

She smiled as she made her entrance. "I am the lights that illuminate the darkness, Cure Starlight!" Hotaru exclaimed as she struck a pose resembling that of a model like strut.

"Cure Starlight...that sounds pretty!" Riko muttered to herself, awestruck by Hotaru becoming a Pretty Cure.

"How lovely!" Moonbeam mused sweetly, in awe of Cure Starlight's elegant and majestic entrance.

She wasted no time getting in on the action. She jumped toward the ostrich and landed a massive kick, causing it to finally fall to the ground. The ostrich tried to get back up, but Cure Starlight decided to assault it with a flurry of punches and kicks, making sure it doesn't have the strength to do anything at all. The ostrich tried to peck at her, but she grabbed its beak and pushed it away. She then did a backflip on its back and proceeded to smack it upside the head with a rather strong punch, causing it to black out. The ostrich struggled to stand back up, but Hotaru hopped off of its back.

"Starlight Kick!" She then landed a massive kick on one of the ostrich's legs, causing it to trip and fall. Thankfully for everyone there, it didn't fall on anything like trees or houses or anything despite being so close. But Hotaru wasn't done yet. She raised her hands into the sky like she was praying for the Gods to appear. Instead of Gods appearing, a myriad of pale blue, star shaped lights rained down on the ostrich and everything around it like a meteor shower.

"Starlight Shower!" The stars rained on the ostrich, permeating its skin and going right into it. The ostrich then became consumed by a pale blue light, which then dissipated into the air once the star shower ended, leaving only a glass orb. Cure Twilight, who transformed back into Riko, was quick to grab it.

"I'm gonna put this back inside the girl. Kay?" Riko said.

"Sure," Hotaru said once she transformed back to her normal self.

Slowly and gently, Riko placed the orb back into the Soul Portal, which disappeared as soon as it went inside. Immediately, Hanae's color returned, and she regained consciousness.

"Hana-chan! Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" Hisako exclaimed as she squeezed Hanae like she hadn't seen her in a long time. For Hanae, instead of feeling embarrassed or angry, she felt warm and happy, brimming with love. "We're so sorry...we're sorry for causing you pain at school."

"No...you don't. I'm sorry for being mad at you," Hanae replied when Miki joined in on the group hug. Once they were done, she walked up to Hotaru with gratitude in her deep brown eyes.

"Thank you for saving me, miss. I'm sorry I didn't say thanks earlier," Hanae told her shyly and bowed.

"It's no big deal. Really. But you're extremely lucky that you have such great parents. Other kids don't have parents who love them at all, and it doesn't matter if you don't have the same kind of parents as everyone else. There's nothing wrong with being different," Hotaru told her gently.

Hanae smiled brightly and went off with her two mothers, proud to be their daughter instead of embarrassed and mortified like before. Riko watched them go inside their house with a smile as well. But as soon as they went in, her smile dissipated and she stared down at the concrete she's standing on rather dejectedly. Hotaru wound up noticing as soon as she turned around. Feeling concerned, she ambled up to the dejected girl and kneeled in front of her.

"What's wrong, Riko?" Hotaru asked kindly, in a soft whisper.

"You're new at the whole Pretty Cure thing like me, yet...you're so much better than me," Riko murmured a little sadly.

"How so?" Hotaru asked, confused. She tilted her head to one side, flummoxed by what Riko is saying.

"You fight better than me, you took the ostrich down more easily than I could ever do, you didn't destroy any houses, and best of all...nobody hates you because you saved them...unlike me," Riko muttered, remembering the choleric faces of the townspeople and the cruel things they did and said to her despite saving them from Marina's corrupted soul.

"I wouldn't say that. While it is true that you handled the incident with the giant fox a little haphazardly, that's understandable since nobody knows how to be an anime-esque superhero in real life, and sometimes even when we do try to be careful, circumstances tend to make things worse than they already are. Don't think everything that goes wrong is your fault," Hotaru said.

"It's true, especially considering what Zenjin is capable of," Sunbeam piped in reassuringly.

"You're not freaked out about being a superhero?" Riko asked curiously.

"A little bit, yes, but I think I can get used to this," Hotaru replied with a smile.

"Minamigawa-san-"

"We're friends and allies now, Riko. Feel free to call me Hotaru."

"Hotaru-san…"

"Good enough."

"By the way, where did your Heart Lighter come from?" Moonbeam asked. "Last I checked, Starbeam is the one who has the blue Heart Lighter."

Sunbeam gasped. "That must mean...Starbeam must be nearby!" Sunbeam shouted and suddenly darted away like she was in a hurry.

"Wait for me, Sunbeam!" Moonbeam pleaded as she gave chase.

"What's going on with them?" Hotaru asked.

"I'll explain later," Riko told her.

* * *

"Seriously! Why can't those blasted Pretty Cures let me have my fun?!" Zenjin exclaimed as he flew far away from the clearing and made it to another area of the woods. He found another tree he could sit on, this time a much bigger and thicker one. Once he laid down on a big branch, he looked up at the big, thick, evergreen leaves with a somewhat insouciant look on his pale little face. He raised his hand into the sky, looking like he wanted to touch it, but he knew it was out of his reach. However, his mind was somewhere else.

"My powers...this Energia thing must be more powerful than I thought. I oughta test it out some more, just to see what more it can do. If I perfect them some more, maybe I can do so much more than just corrupt one soul at a time. I'll get much closer to finding..._her_…" Zenjin muttered to himself. Suddenly, an image flashed through his mind. It looked like a rather fat and dumpy woman with sagging skin on her arms, long, messy, muddy dark brown hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in days, and bloodshot eyes. He couldn't make out her face though. He rubbed his face with his glove-covered hands.

"But how am I gonna find her when I don't remember anything about this world? I oughta at least familiarize myself with it...since it's been so long…" Zenjin said to himself. _'I'll spend the night here. At least nobody will bother me...'_ He thought as he decided to make this tree his turf for the day.

One had to wonder what exactly was going through his young mind.


	4. Starbeam is Found! So is Cure Dawn!

Chapter 4: Starbeam is Found! So is Cure Dawn!

Unfortunately for the two fairies, despite their knowledge that Starbeam was the one responsible for the blue Heart Lighter, they couldn't find their sister, partly because their injuries still kept them from going too far, and partly because there were people around to observe the scene where the giant ostrich attacked, and they didn't want to get caught, so they figured they should give up for today. Riko took the fairies and went home with them right after they came back. Hotaru decided to go home on her own despite the commotion. She found the walk to be quite relaxing once she got further and further away from the commotion, and listening to her I-Pod playing classical pieces by Vivaldi(1) definitely helped knock the stress out of her system, as she really needed to get all that stress from beating up the giant ostrich out.

Hotaru was quite in awe of what just happened. A giant ostrich, or to be more specific, the manifestation of Hanae's corrupted soul, tried to attack her parents, and she turned into some anime superhero and defeated it all on her own, without any help whatsoever. It was understandable that Riko found her to be amazing, even before she became a Pretty Cure, but...Hotaru wasn't quite sure if she was really as amazing and awesome as Riko claims she is. Her insides are doing backflips and her head was throbbing due to all the jumping and the kicking and trying to wrangle the giant ostrich like she was in a bull rodeo. She was surprised she even managed to survive something like that. But she was still happy that they saved Hanae and helped her reconcile with her parents.

She was like Hanae at one point in her life.

A little later, Hotaru arrived in front of a cobalt blue house with a slanted pale grey roof, and an old white rocking chair sitting on the porch that's covered by a steel blue rug. She saw some pots of flowers sitting on the porch, like petunias in bright, multifarious colors like cotton candy pink, cloud white, and lavender purple. She walked onto the porch, pulled out her pink breast cancer themed house key with a little blue stuffed animal on it in the form of a deer, put the key into the hole, turned it, and opened the door.

"I'm back!" Hotaru called out when she entered her house.

"Hotaru-chan! Is that you?" A man suddenly darted in front of her with worry painted on his middle aged face and consuming his deep blue eyes. "I'm so glad you're safe! I heard about the commotion in town. You're not hurt, are you?"

"No. I'm okay, Dad," Hotaru told him with a smile as she hugged him. He hugged her back, albeit a little tighter than she liked.

"I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you, my little firefly," Hotaru's father told her as he squeezed her like he didn't want to ever let her go. Soon, she pried herself out of his well intentioned and loving grasp.

"Where's Kyouichi at?" Hotaru asked.

"He's out in the backyard working on his go kart. I swear, I don't know how he manages to spend so much time on those things and not act like he's crazier than those guys I deal with at the restaurant!" Hotaru's first father exclaimed. "Oh! I better get started on dinner. We're having chicken alfredo today!" He said cheerfully as he went to the kitchen and decided to work on dinner.

Happily, Hotaru went into her room and decided to work on some homework. It's a perfectly clean room, with a window overlooking her backyard, where she could watch her second father, Kyouichi, working vigorously on his go kart. Her bed, covered with a pale blue bed sheet and a few stuffed animals and many books about astronomy and planets, is perfectly flat, neat, and tidy, like it hadn't been slept in. A little next to her window is a big, black telescope sitting on a silver and black tripod. She sat down at her white desk, pulled out some worksheets, pulled out a green mechanical pencil, and began working on it. But the images of everything that happened today still lingered in her mind.

'_Pretty Cure...Cure Starlight...monsters...I wonder if I can really handle it? How can I balance it with school and naginata practice and...the rest of my life?'_ Hotaru thought as she finished the first three problems on her worksheet without any difficulty. _'Well, I don't think it's something I can really control, as we won't know when something else will happen. If I ever see Riko-chan again, I'll ask her about everything that's been happening. We didn't get to exchange cell numbers,'_ She finished two more problems. Soon, her homework was done.

Hotaru has had quite a tough day today. But things were only going to get tougher, both in terms of fighting monsters and with school.

The morning started out pleasantly enough, with everyone scrambling to their homerooms, chatting happily about anything and everything teenagers usually talk about, and doing whatever they usually did before classes began. Hikage and Hotaru talked amongst themselves like they usually did, and they had a great time doing so until a very unexpected and vociferous sound suddenly rendered the entire classroom silent with shock, their hearts racing like race cars and doing backflips.

"WHYYYYYY?!" One of their male classmates, who is normally stoic and silent all the time, suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice going so high it sounded like it didn't even belong to him, which made everyone turn to look in shock and surprise. Then, he stood up and kicked his desk to the floor, causing everyone, even the teacher going over his papers, to flinch at the loud THUD that echoed in the room. One other male classmate suddenly stood up to try and grab him to make sure he didn't destroy the entire classroom. "THIS IS A CRIME! HE SHOULD BE PUT TO DEATH! _DEATH!_" He shouted even louder this time, further frightening the entire flummoxed classroom. Even the teacher was cowed by his peculiar behavior. The door leading to the hallway is closed, so nobody outside got to hear it.

"Chill out, Kurahashi! You'll get in trouble!" The other male classmate exclaimed as he tried to calm down his friend, Kurahashi, who, considering how beet red his face is and how rancor-consumed his brown eyes were, wasn't even remotely calm. It didn't look like the word calm was even in his dictionary. Not only that, it didn't look like he wanted to be calm at all.

"He's been declared INNOCENT! HE'S CLEARED OF _ALL_ CHARGES! LOOK!" The loud boy named Kurahashi screamed again, waving a rolled up newspaper around in his hand like it's a fan.

"What?!" Pandemonium broke out. Literally everyone in the classroom sans Hikage, Hotaru, the teacher, and two other kids, a boy and a girl with long light brown hair with her bangs pulled back with a butterfly hair clip, scrambled toward Kurahashi and the rolled up newspaper like it was a new fad.

"What's...going on?" Hikage asked, confused as to why there's a big brouhaha going on in their homeroom. Hotaru shrugged.

"Here. I've got a copy," One kid said as he showed him a copy of the school's newspaper. Hikage opened the paper and read the headline that read, _"Cop Involved In Teen's Murder Cleared of All Charges."_

"You weren't here so you don't know. A classmate of ours was murdered six months ago. Some cop thought he was a criminal and shot him without realizing he hit the wrong guy," The kid explained.

"Oh God. Seriously?" Hikage asked, becoming more heartbroken upon hearing this and reading the article. He managed to find the kid's name: Sogabe Kirito. Senior at Hikaribashi High School. Aged 17. 1995-2012. Died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The man involved in his accidental murder is a cop named Uomisaki Toyoki.

"Kurahashi was his best friend. That's why he's flipping out right now. I don't blame him. They were thick as thieves. There was never a day when those two weren't together. You'd think they were gay, no offense," The kid explained. Hotaru couldn't help but glare at him for that last comment, though she had to wonder if maybe he didn't really mean it to be offensive at all.

"I'm so sorry. I heard about something like this on the news but I never paid any attention," Hikage said sadly, his voice becoming a little choked up upon reading the somber article.

"He's been cleared of all charges, it says," Hotaru said, peering at the article with her curious ocean blue eyes.

"The cop says it was an accident. I get that. But tell that to everyone here and all the people who protested in front of the courthouse. It was madness from what I saw on the news. They all think he's a heartless demon who shot him on purpose, which I think is stupid," The kid said. Hikage could tell with all the commotion and angry words being thrown around that they definitely did not think this cop did it by accident.

"Why do they think he shot him on purpose?" Hotaru asked. "They shouldn't be jumping to conclusions."

"Dunno. Everyone else thinks so too. Don't bother arguing with them. You'll just get a black eye," The kid told them. "We made a memorial for him in the soccer field. You wanna go?"

"I oughta talk to my parents first," Hikage told him somberly. "Thanks anyway."

"Sorry you had to hear about this at all," Hotaru muttered.

Unbeknownst to them, the girl with long light brown hair with her bangs tucked back is looking at her own copy of the newspaper, far away from Hikage, Hotaru, and the other boy. Her midnight blue eyes, dark as a night sky twinkling with stars, were suddenly allowing warm tears to creep out like water leaking from a pipe. She looked down at the picture of the murdered boy, Sogabe Kirito. The boy had a bright smile on his face, coupled with his shaggy black hair and maroon eyes, eyes that looked so vibrant and full of life. Some of her tears fell onto the newspaper, making dark, wet marks on the grey paper, but she didn't care about that at all. She didn't seem to hear any of the commotion at all.

"Why couldn't it have been me?" The girl muttered to herself sadly, allowing her warm tears to dampen her face. "You got lucky, Kirito-kun. You got to leave this world. Why can't I be the one to escape and be free from all this madness?" She asked herself in a choked voice.

* * *

As soon as Riko hopped out of the car and came onto the blacktop, the first thing she heard was the sound of a harmonica. A very light, cheery, and energetic sound it was. Remembering what Kyoya said about it before, she decided to look on the blacktop to see if she could find the person playing it. As it turned out, she didn't have to take too long in finding the person, because the musician turned out to be Anzu, leaning against the metal fence on the far left corner of the blacktop, contentedly playing some country song on the little metal bar like it was the best thing in the world. Riko, seeing the serene joy on her pale, bespectacled face, decided to be quiet and just watch her play. She didn't recognize the song, but she liked how it sounded. After a couple minutes, Anzu stopped playing and put her harmonica in her pocket.

"That was great, An-chan!" Riko exclaimed happily, in awe of Anzu's talent.

"Thanks. Glad you like it, Riko-chan," Anzu replied with a cheerful, perky looking smile.

"What song is that?" Riko asked curiously.

"I forget the name, but it's by Johnny Cash. He's an American country music singer. He's dead now, but he writes really good music," Anzu explained. "My dad is really into his music."

"Never heard of him. But still, you're really good at the harmonica," Riko told her with her own smile.

"Thanks. I kinda like it," Anzu said sheepishly.

They didn't get to talk for much longer though, because the bell rang and everyone scrambled to get into homeroom. When Riko sat down to read her manga, she heard the sound of someone talking and turned to look. The source of the voice is a girl about her age, sitting with two other girls, with raven black hair like herself but it went down to her upper back, tied into flouncy little pigtails held up by little pink, shiny, pearl-like hair clips. The girl has pale blue eyes, like a perfectly pristine morning sky. Today the girl is wearing a black and white striped tank top, a ruffled purplish pink miniskirt, and brown sandals. The girl is talking quite loudly and Riko, having hypersensitive hearing, couldn't help but overhear, even though more than anything, she wanted to NOT hear.

"Ugh! I can't believe someone found our burn book and told the principal! Whoever it is, I oughta punch her lights out!" The girl yelled loudly, which made Riko cover her ears. But it didn't block out the entire conversation.

"We didn't snitch, Yoshie! We swear!" One frumpy pale brown haired girl exclaimed fearfully.

'_So SHE'S that Inoue girl Kyo-chan talks about,'_ Riko thought, keeping herself silent so as to not get their attention.

"I really don't see what's so _'troubling'_ about it. A girl needs to vent somehow. I don't see why I can't talk about other people! A lot of what we wrote in there is true, y'know!" The pigtailed girl, Yoshie, complained loudly and petulantly with a screechy, high pitched voice, like a perfect drama queen. "And because of that snitch, we have detention twice a week for six weeks! And this is only the first week of school!"

"I'm sorry for dropping it, Yoshie," The dark brown haired, bespectacled girl muttered sadly. "I didn't even know I lost it until after the principal called us to his office."

"It's alright, Shizuka-chan. You didn't know," The lighter brown haired girl told her friend Shizuka.

"Why are you feeling bad for her, Toshiko?! It's her fault the principal got the Burn Book!" Yoshie yelled, scaring Shizuka and Toshiko into cowering in their seats. "But still! He didn't have to give us detention! And I can't believe what he said to us! _'We cannot have something as troubling as this on school grounds. We have a zero tolerance policy about bullying, Inoue. If I catch you doing something like this again, stricter measures will have to be taken. You're lucky I'm giving you a detention this time around.'_ He made it sound like I started a nuclear war! He didn't have to make such a big deal out of it!"

Riko knew that if they found out she was the one who told them about their Burn Book, they'd automatically declare her public enemy number one and probably demonize her and bully her for the rest of her life, just like other people did at her previous schools. But then again, they'd probably bully her and demonize her anyway. Riko didn't think it was possible to avoid them no matter what she'd try. But she did notice something about Yoshie that's very troubling: her tank top, miniskirt, and sandals. She read the dress code. Tank tops, miniskirts, and sandals aren't allowed in school. It didn't seem like the teachers noticed.

She wasn't going to let this Inoue girl get away with violating the dress code.

Very slowly and scrupulously, she got up from her seat and walked over to the teacher's desk. Her homeroom teacher, Omori Seiko, has proven to be a rather nice lady so far, with beautiful, curling caramell hair that looked like gravy trailing down to her shoulders, chocolate brown eyes, and rather casual style of dress, wearing hoodies and jeans like high schoolers would, but not in a gangster-like way.

"Omori-sensei," Riko whispered as she ambled over to the teacher.

"Hm? What's up, Riko-chan?" Mrs. Omori asked.

"I don't think you've noticed yet. Yoshie's wearing a tank top, miniskirt, and sandals. You're not supposed to wear those in school, right?" Riko whispered as low as she could muster, but lucid enough for Mrs. Omori to hear. Mrs. Omori glanced over at Yoshie, who really is wearing a tank top, miniskirt, and sandals. What Riko didn't know was that Yoshie just so happened to glance right over to where they are.

"Thanks. I'll take care of it," Mrs. Omori replied. Riko quietly returned to her seat, hoping she did some good. What she didn't know was that Yoshie was watching her every move. All of a sudden, Mrs. Omori approached the overly curious Yoshie.

"Inoue-san? Can I see you outside?" Mrs. Omori asked sternly.

"Why?" Yoshie asked back.

"Just come with me into the hall," Mrs. Omori said. Yoshie pouted silently and followed the austere teacher out into the hall. As soon as they were alone, Mrs. Omori crossed her arms and stared down at the confused girl with a very austere and unmerciful look in her eyes. "You know tank tops, miniskirts, and sandals are against the school dress code, Inoue-san. I want you to go to the principal's office, call your parents, and ask them to give you proper clothes to wear."

"Why can't I wear these? I like them! Why are they against the dress code?" Yoshie complained petulantly, not happy to get called out on by a teacher.

"I don't want your feet getting hurt, and it's unsightly to wear shirts with straps that small and skirts of that length. It's just not appropriate," Mrs. Omori told her.

"I don't see why it's not appropriate! I've been waiting too long to finally be able to wear stuff like this! I don't get to wear stuff I actually like very often!" Yoshie yelled even more petulantly, her screechy voice developing a very unsubtle whine to it, much to the teacher's barely disguised chagrin.

"Don't give me that attitude, young lady! Now go to the principal's office and call your parents. You'll be forbidden from going to class until you put on something proper. Now, march!" Mrs. Omori scolded angrily and unabashedly pointed in the direction where the principal's office is. Yoshie, knowing that arguing with this stern woman would only make things worse, reluctantly stomped to the principal's office, her sandals making squeak noises as she stamped them onto the floor step by step. "Pick up your feet when you walk!" Mrs. Omori exclaimed.

"Oh, be quiet!" Yoshie whined as she went into the principal's office.

Everything in homeroom went fine as usual. "I'll bet Inoue's in trouble," Kyoya piped in as he wheeled over to Riko and Anzu.

"She's not supposed to wear tank tops, miniskirts, and sandals. It's against the dress code," Riko said.

"That explains it. I was never fond of those kinda things," Anzu said.

"She deserves it," Another voice piped in, but it didn't belong to Kyoya or Anzu. The three of them looked around to suddenly find Marina sitting next to them, staring at the hallway door as Mrs. Omori came back into the classroom. "Personally, who still wears skirts of that length? Don't people have any sense of decency? It's bad enough kids like Kosaka wear their pants so low we can see their undies! It's so gross!"

"Yay! Somebody who agrees with me!" Riko suddenly cheered out of nowhere. She never expected to have something in common with the orange haired girl who picked on her a few days ago. Kyoya's emerald eyes widened with surprise like they were about to pop out of his head. Riko actually found common ground with someone who picked on her? Is she serious? He wondered if this was the same girl he befriended. But upon further rumination, Marina did stop picking on them since the first day. Perhaps she's serious about turning over a new leaf. But he didn't want to count his chickens before they hatched. Even more oddly, Marina smiled in response to that.

"Glad to hear it," Marina piped in with an unusually soft, kind-looking smile. Her goldenrod eyes no longer donned that choleric, wild animal-like look they had before. Riko didn't notice this, however.

After that, everyone went to their classes and went about their day. For the most part, the day went fine. But math lessons began for Riko, which she dreaded since she hates math with the fury of a thousand bob cats, as she likes to put it. However, so far the math lessons are easy, and she made sure to take lots of notes in class, like she always does, though she isn't so sure if the notes will do her any good at all. Lunch time finally came and Riko got to relax. Not only that, Kyoya and Anzu sit at her table now, and they palavered about anything they could think of as they consumed their lunch. Riko couldn't help but notice that her food tasted a lot better and that the atmosphere around her felt more warm and welcoming than when she sat alone. She wondered if being friends with Kyoya and Anzu was the cause of it. _'Having friends around sure is wonderful. I wish I had moments like these when I was younger,'_ Riko thought happily as she watched Kyoya and Anzu literally light up their lunch table with their cheer.

"Hey, Kyoya. That girl with the brown hair's been watching us a lot lately," Anzu suddenly piped in out of nowhere, pointing to a table off to their left with her fork. Riko and Kyoya turned around to find a girl their age sitting with a few other girls and boys, who looked away as soon as they saw her. Her hair is a neutral but brilliant shade of chocolate brown, and it goes down to her upper back, with a little ponytail dangling from the back of her head supported by a dark green scrunchie. She also has little sparkly green earrings shaped like clovers on both her ear lobes. Kyoya turned right around as soon as she did.

"Who is she?" Riko asked curiously.

"I think her name is Dounowaki. Didn't you used to be friends with her, Kyoya?" Anzu replied, then asked Kyoya, who ate the rest of his lunch looking rather grumpy, if he knew her.

"Just drop it. She's not worth our time," Kyoya muttered rather irritably as he finished the rest of his lunch. Riko could tell from the irritated tone of his voice that it was a rather sensitive subject, so she and Anzu decided to drop it right then and there so as to not push his buttons. However, despite respecting Kyoya's wishes, Riko still felt curious. Was she his friend? Was she is girlfriend? If they were friends, why don't they hang out anymore? If they were boyfriend and girlfriend, did they break up? And why did they break up? Questions lingered in her mind like fish in a pristine pond. She didn't want to make Kyoya more angry, so she kept her mouth shut. However, as soon as recess came around, Kyoya was back to his mellow, cheerful, humorous self.

But sparks were about to fly during recess, and they were not going to be pretty. Anzu played her harmonica next to them in peace as Kyoya and Riko talked amongst themselves.

"Hey, Ri-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering...I notice that whenever people talk to you, us included, you never look at them in the face. You always look away when people talk to you. Why is that?"

"Uhh...I dunno. I just do," Riko stammered shyly, a little abashed by his random question. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything."

"I know. I was just curious, that's all," Kyoya told her with a smile.

"Also, I kinda have a question, too. Would...you mind if I...called you...Kyo-chan?" Riko stammered even more shyly this time with her own question. But as soon as she asked it, worries began flooding her mind. _'Oh no! Did I ask something stupid again? What if he doesn't like silly nicknames? I should have kept my big flabby yappy mouth shut!'_ Riko cried in her head frightfully, wondering if she pushed his buttons. Thankfully for her, she didn't.

"Sure! I kinda miss being referred to by a nickname, so go right ahead!" Kyoya exclaimed cheerfully, his radiant, sunflowery smile returning in full force, quite a contrast to his irritability just mere minutes ago. Riko felt a smile embrace her pale little face, too. She could actually call someone a nickname! And they don't mind! She wondered if the gears of fate were finally turning in her favor. Good things are actually happening to her at last!

Isn't it funny how good situations can turn bad within seconds out of nowhere? Because as soon as Riko relished at the thought of referring to Kyoya as Kyo-chan, she suddenly found herself being pushed against the metal fence rather violently, letting out a painful yelp that caused Anzu to stop her harmonica music rather abruptly. It didn't take long for them to find out who it is: Yoshie, this time dressed in a hoodie, pale blue damaged jeans, and yellow flip on shoes.

"Hey! Get off her!" Anzu yelled, appalled by what she and Kyoya just witnessed.

"Why'd you snitch on me, you retard?!" Yoshie yelled angrily as she pushed Riko against the metal fence.

"Get off me!" Riko snapped as she tried to force Yoshie off of her, but the choleric, pigtailed girl just grabbed her hair and slammed her against the fence again. "Oww!"

"You should know better than to snitch on me, you stupid retard!" Yoshie shouted, like an angry lion not wanting to let its prey run amok.

"Get off her, Inoue!" Kyoya yelled as he wheeled in between them and managed to remove Yoshie's hand from Riko's hair. Yoshie virulently kicked Kyoya's wheelchair right as he did that, but since his is an electric one and the fact that Yoshie's legs are spindly and weak, it didn't fall over.

"Shut up, you four eyed cripple!" Yoshie snapped.

"You shut up!" He snapped back, unfazed by the choleric pigtailed girl's kick.

"Admit it, you retard! You told the teacher on me, didn't you?!" Yoshie yelled. All of a sudden, she found something pulling on her hood. She turned around to find Marina gripping it rather tightly as she stared down at her with her own austere look on her face.

"Will you be quiet? Your annoying voice is making my ears bleed," Marina told her venomously, her golden eyes squinting with irritation swimming around in them like koi fish.

"Oh great! The Asagi Shouji clone has come to contaminate our breathing air! You'll get arrested if you attack me! You're gonna end up in jail just like your stupid dad!" Yoshie sneered virulently. Riko, Kyoya, and Anzu looked at each other with their eyes so wide they all looked like they were about to pop right out of their sockets.

"You're the one who's gonna get arrested for picking on someone, and for that matter, it's your own fault for violating the dress code! Can't you suck it up and quit blaming other people for stuff you do?" Marina retorted, completely unfazed by Yoshie calling her a clone of her deadbeat dad. "If you know what's good for you, then go away!"

"Why won't you let me do what I want?!" Yoshie whined like a petulant little brat, which definitely made everybody perturbed. "Let me sock that retard for snitching on me! Lemme go, you soon-to-be rapist!"

"STOP IT!" Riko suddenly screamed out of nowhere, though not as loud as any of the other kids. Despite her head pulsating from the pain of being rammed against the metal fence, she clenched her thin little fists and flames of courage danced blazingly in her little heart as she stomped over to the petulant Yoshie to give her a good verbal lashing. "Quit saying Marina's gonna be like her dad! You should know better than to pick on someone for stuff they can't control! It's not like she WANTED to be that guy's daughter! Kids can't choose their parents! Don't make it sound like she's gonna be exactly like him, because she won't! You're just too stupid to see that she's a person like you and me and everyone else!"

"You're even stupider than I am, you retard! You're ugly and gross and dumber than a brain dead retard!" Yoshie yelled petulantly, obviously not listening to a thing Riko just said.

"Anyone who calls people stupid is the stupid one, and don't think you're so cool just because you insult everybody and write in all in a magazine clipping covered book, and don't you dare say it's funny because to some people, it's NOT!" Riko yelled. But as soon as she yelled that, she gasped and immediately put her hands over her mouth upon realizing what she just did. _'OH NO! I blabbed about the Burn Book! Riko, you stupid stupid STUPID retard! Why do you have to run your big fat mouth?!'_ Riko screamed in her brain. Now everyone would know, and Yoshie and possibly other kids who hate her will likely pick on her and continually harass her for the rest of her life.

Riko could literally feel Yoshie's bloodshot pale blue eyes squint ferociously, like a lion preparing to pounce on its prey and rip it up and leave it to rot on the ground a bloody mess. Before Yoshie could do anything, suddenly one of the teachers appeared to ask what was going on. Funnily enough, Marina was the one who told him everything and literally handed Yoshie to him like she was an old shirt she didn't want anymore. The teacher, understandably angry, dragged the petulant girl to the principal's office yet again. Yoshie kept on whining, but the kids didn't bother to pay any attention to it. They just wanted to get back to their day.

"Sorry about that. You okay?" Marina asked in a low but concerned voice. The stern look in her goldenrod eyes disappeared, and now they looked soft and worried.

"Sorta. Thanks. But I ran my mouth again, and now she's gonna hate me forever and ever and ever and ever," Riko muttered sadly, thinking that Yoshie, now that she knows that she told the principal about the Burn Book, is possibly going to ruin every aspect of her school life in every way possible and will likely take a lot of glee in it, like Zenjin does in making people suffer.

"Don't worry about that drama queen. She flips out about everything and picks on everybody, us included," Kyoya piped in. He wanted to say more but Riko suddenly cut him off.

"No! I HAVE to worry! Because this always happens to me! I run my mouth and then someone tells the whole school about it and everyone picks on me every single day and none of the teachers will stop it and say that it's my fault for being stupid and retarded and dumb and annoying and they'll tell their parents that I'm the one being mean to them even though they're not and-and-and-and Rina's gonna tell me it's my fault for being weird and dumb and stupid and retarded and-and-and-and-and-and…" Riko went on and on like she was worrying about everything that happened in her life. Anzu, Kyoya, and Marina couldn't prevent the ungraceful droppings of their jaws as they watched Riko ramble like a neurotic person possibly on the brink of a full blown nervous breakdown. Then, unable to watch and listen to the poor girl kill herself with worry and fear, Kyoya grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him, causing her to stop rambling like she's about to suffer an anxiety attack.

"You're not stupid, weird, dumb, or retarded. Jeez, you worry more than my dad does! If any of those idiots pick on you, let us know! We'll give them some good ol' Falcon Punches! Besides, my legs might not work, but that doesn't mean I can't put up a fight!" Kyoya told her cheerfully, raising one of his little fists and swinging it around a little to empathize his point.

"But you'll get in trouble if you do that!" Riko said. But in her brain, however, it was quite different. _'What?! They actually want to stand up to them for me? Nobody ever does that except for my parents and Hikage!'_ She thought, even more flummoxed by that part than Yoshie trying to smash her face into the metal fence.

"Won't we get in trouble anyway? Knowing Inoue and Kosaka, they never let their prey catch a break for a millisecond," Marina retorted.

"Welcome to middle school," Anzu piped in.

After that, the day went by just fine. But Riko and Anzu noticed that the girl from before, Dounowaki, continued to watch them like she was seeing an animal in the zoo. The girl hasn't done anything bad, but Riko hoped she wasn't like Yoshie or her friends. She and Kyoya apparently know each other, and they're supposedly on bad terms. But that's about all they knew. Finally, school's over and everyone went home.

* * *

Around the time school let out, Moonbeam and Sunbeam continued their search for their two sisters. Still, they came up empty, but they kept on looking. This time, they went farther than usual. After lots of flying around and keeping a low profile so as to not be spotted, they stopped in front of a funeral home.

"Ooooh...after all this time we still haven't found Starbeam or Lovebeam. I really hope they're not...y'know," Moonbeam whimpered sadly as she tried to catch her breath, feeling quite exhausted from searching for nine hours.

"Don't think like that, Moonbeam! I'm sure they must have fallen a little ways from us. We can't give up. Not after we've come this far," Sunbeam told her reassuringly. However, in her own burning heart, some doubts swirled around like a stick in a cotton candy making machine. Not wanting to lose hope, however, she tried her best to squelch those uncomfortable feelings, knowing that they'd slow her down if she allowed them to consume her like a tsunami. She didn't want to believe her sisters were dead. They couldn't be. "I wonder what street this is? Oh! This is Inazuma Avenue. Let's look down here once we're rested up."

"Sure," Moonbeam muttered, her long ears drooping downward in a dejected motion. After a few minutes of catching their breath and regaining their strength, the two fairies fluttered toward Inazuma Avenue, hoping to do some more searching before they return to Riko's house for the day. But it didn't take long for them to be distracted.

"Hm? Do you hear that, Sunbeam?"

"A harmonica? Yeah."

"It sounds nice. Want to see who's playing it?"

"Sure. I guess it wouldn't hurt."

It didn't take long for them to find the person playing the harmonica either, as it's Anzu (not that they know this), sitting on her front porch, contentedly and happily playing her precious silver hunk of metal. Moonbeam and Sunbeam hid in a nearby bush in front of another house, curious and entranced at the same time. The song Anzu is playing is much softer in tone this time around, and not as bouncy, lively, or cheery like before.

"She plays really well. Kinda like Patch," Sunbeam whispered with a smile.

"I agree. It's a lovely sound. But...in a way, it sounds rather sad," Moonbeam muttered.

"Sad? What do you mean?" Sunbeam asked, confused.

"It sounds like she's channeling a kind of sadness in her playing, like she's using the harmonica as an outlet," Moonbeam explained.

"How DO you channel feelings into what you do? I never get how that works," Sunbeam said, scratching one of her ears. "Hey! Doesn't she look a LOT like Cure Sunlight to you?"

"Cure Sunlight? You mean one of the Pretty Cures from the Queen's stories?" Moonbeam asked before turning to look at Anzu again. "Ohhh! You're right! She does! She has her human form's hair, but that girl's hair is a lot longer and straighter. Sunlight's was massively curly."

"I know, right?" Sunbeam said in agreement. She turned around to watch some more...only to find something light blue popping out from one of the bushes.

It took her a while to see what it was that popped out, but it soon became clear. It's a creature like her and Moonbeam, but with small, ball-like ears with pale yellow tips, emerald green eyes just like Riko and Kyoya, a yellow, five-pointed star on her back, a pale green ribbon wrapped around her neck with a yellow star on the front, and a blue and yellow striped tail with a yellow star on the back.

It hit Sunbeam and Moonbeam right then and there.

"STARBEEEEAM!" They both shouted so loud they literally caused Anzu such fright that she stopped playing her harmonica. Not cognizant of this fact, they very enthusiastically and happily flew right over to the blue and yellow fairy, glomping her with the force of a freight train, causing her to fall to the grass. Anzu ran back inside her house, not wanting to stay outside any longer. The fairies were oblivious to this. At first, Starbeam was quite shocked by the appearance of these fairies, but once she calmed down and comprehended their appearance, she began to tear up.

"Moonbeam! Sunbeam! Oh, how I missed you so!" Starbeam cried happily when she got up and embraced her two sisters, obviously very happy to see them. What a joyous occasion this turned out to be.

"We were so worried about you, Star! We thought something bad might have happened to you!" Sunbeam exclaimed once she calmed down and let go of her younger sister.

"We're so glad you're okay! I was beginning to doubt if we could ever find you!" Moonbeam said as she wiped away some tears with her stubby little hands. "You must have been scared."

"Oh, indeed I was, my dear sisters! My fright consumed me like no other. But I have wandered and meandered all this time, hoping I'd seek you out. I'm so jubilant to finally be reunited with you two," Starbeam told them, feeling as though a burden was lifted off of her tiny little pale blue shoulders.

But Moonbeam noticed something else that was unsettling. "Where's Lovebeam? Wasn't she with you?"

Starbeam's emerald eyes donned a dejected look as she looked down at the grass she stood upon. "I'm afraid I don't know where she is. She wasn't with me when I woke up. I'm sorry," Starbeam confessed sadly.

"It's okay. We figured something like this would happen," Moonbeam told her as she put a paw on her shoulder reassuringly.

"We'll find her! Don't you worry, Star! We never gave up looking for you, so we'll keep on looking until we're all back together again!" Sunbeam edicted proudly, which made Starbeam crack a smile.

"You're as cheerful as ever, Sunbeam, especially considering what happened. Oh! By the way, what did happen while I was away? I noticed one of the Heart Lighters flew away from me some time yesterday," Starbeam said.

"Oh! You don't know! You'll never believe it, Star!" Sunbeam exclaimed happily as she decided to tell Starbeam about everything that happened since they fell to Earth.

After running inside frightfully, Anzu collected herself and looked out one of her front windows curiously. She could see the fluffy looking fairies conversing amongst themselves happily, but her lime green eyes were still rather wide with surprise. Then again, this is understandable, since it's not every day someone sees some moving, talking, walking, and jumping stuffed animal-like creatures. "What the heck are those things? There's no way they can be real. But I can't be dreaming either," Anzu mused to herself curiously as she watched the fairies talk amongst themselves. But within her heart, curiosity and interest began to blossom in her heart like a newly blooming flower being exposed to a beautiful, shining spring sun. She cracked a smile as she watched Sunbeam proceed to tell Starbeam everything that happened. "I have to admit, they sure are cute and cuddly-looking."

* * *

About a few streets up, Zenjin, in his usual tacky black and red raiment, quietly ambled on the sidewalk, looking at the beautiful scenery around him. The flowering trees and their excessive cotton candy-like, pinky white blooms, the piles and piles of petals he's seeing everywhere, the lovely twittering of the songbirds, the chitter-chatter of the squirrels as they crawled up their favorite trees. To the regular person, all of this natural beauty would be considered quite beautiful, calming, soothing, and delightful. But to Zenjin, it was just disgusting. Why, just being among this natural scenery made him want to puke.

"Ugh. Am I ever going to find any place that DOESN'T look like that trashy saccharine land? Jeez! Turn down the pink, why don't you?!" Zenjin yelped irritably as he shot a purple ray of light at one cherry tree, stripping it bare of every single one of its beautiful blossoms, making it look very gnarled and withered like it hadn't been watered since the beginning of time. But not only that, some birds were sitting on the branches, and because the light came so fast, they couldn't fly away in time. The birds are now nothing but charred, defeathered corpses that fell lifelessly to the concrete sidewalk as soon as the light stopped consuming the poor, helpless tree, their bodies black like midnight.

"This is all so useless and stupid. Flowers? Pink? Animals? Blech! Gag me. I'd like to use my awesome powers to strip this and all other worlds of everything good. But I can't bite off more than I can chew, now can I? Plus I have to keep my priorities straight," Zenjin mused to himself like it was the most normal thing in the world.

He stopped on one sidewalk and looked up at the pristine blue sky. He was disgusted by how excessively blue it was, without anything in it. He wished it'd be cloudy or rainy. "It...it sure has been a long time since I've been on Earth. It's hard to believe all of this stuff was even here," He chuckled a bit. "Then again, I did spend 90% of my life in only two places on this enormous and stupid planet, so of course I wouldn't know all of this was here. But where in the wild blue yonder do I start looking?"

He put a hand on his chin and began ruminating to himself quietly, unaware that a cat just passed right by him. _'I can't seem to remember the name of my hometown or my old home address. I wish I wrote them down. But then again, I can barely read or write anyway. But one thing's for sure: this place definitely isn't it. It had less trees, and the school here is nothing like the school I went to. It was more fancy and posh. Ugh. I hate fancy and posh unless it stuff I like,'_ Zenjin thought to himself. He wanted to ruminate some more until something yanked him out of his reverie, which he did not take kindly to. It didn't take too long for him to find the source of the sound. It came from a pale brown house. One of the windows was open, and the vociferous sound of extremely volatile and ferocious yelling echoed in the halcyon suburban air.

"Why won't you sign these divorce papers?! It's been three years!" A woman yelled angrily, shrill and loud, with jingoistic rancor peppering her voice.

"You're just trying to leech out some alimony money!" A hoarse man's voice snapped back with just as much rancor.

"_You're_ the money grubber! Instead of paying bills and food and mortgage, you spend it on booze and casinos and cocaine! You wonder why our daughter hates us! When are you ever going to shape up?!"

"You're the one who needs to shape up and know your place, you old bat! Both you and the brat!"

"STOP IT!" Another voice yelled, stopping the man and woman from yelling any further. Curious, Zenjin walked closer to the window that's at least a meter higher he is by a longshot. Although the shrill yelling irritated him, he couldn't help but be interested in the outcome of this brouhaha. "This is exactly why I don't like coming home anymore! All you two ever do is fight and scream and hack at each other's throats! This is all you do every single day! I can't stand it anymore! Why can't you two just drop dead?!"

Then, a resounding slap noise pierced the tense atmosphere, both inside and out. "If you hate being here that much, why don'cha just leave already, you spoiled brat?! You're the reason why our lives are garbage in the first place! Why do you think we haven't gotten divorced yet?! Don't think you're so special just 'cause you got it easier than we do! You're not the only one who's suffering around here, so be a good girl and get over it!"

"You're such an idiot, you know that, Kenta?!" The woman yelled, obviously appalled by what he just said. "Why are you blaming her for all of this?! Don't drag her into our mess!"

"She's already in it, you old bat! You know she's ruining our lives! She keeps making us waste our good money on her!"

"You're the one wasting our good money! Nanako! Wait!"

All of a sudden, the young girl who gazed at the newspaper in Hikage's homeroom earlier, Nanako, ran out of the house in tears. Because Zenjin was just a few feet away from her, they didn't bump into each other. But he did see her run away. _'Hmm...I wonder if she knows anything?'_ Zenjin thought as he decided to fly after her.

Nanako ran and ran as fast as she could, like a cheetah. But she didn't get to run for every long. All of a sudden, one of her feet slipped, and she fell on the concrete street, flat on her face. She tearfully pulled herself up and found many messy red scratches on her palms. She found that there's a big hole in her jeans, revealing a small gash on her knee, probably from falling on the concrete. But she didn't care about any of these. She just wanted to get away. From everything. The yelling, the screaming, the jingoistic hatred, the confusion, the discord, the pointless blame being heaped on her, the alcohol, the financial difficulties, everything. She couldn't repress her emotions any longer. She erupted into a passionate paroxysm of crying, not caring whether anyone watched or not. Being stared at was better than getting yelled at for stuff that wasn't her fault and inundated by all the discord that was consuming her family like a big ugly monster, so why not? After a while, her passionate sobbing died down somewhat, but she still didn't stop.

"Why couldn't it have been me?! Why couldn't that officer kill me?! That way I wouldn't have to put up with all of this! It's not like anyone'll care whether I'm dead or not, Mom or Dad included! Thanks a lot for leaving me all alone, Sogabe! You always had it easy in everything! Everything always went right for you! Why can't something good ever happen to me for once?! Why can't...Mom and Dad...just split up already?" Nanako yelled into the heavens, but her voice began to become hoarse from too much crying. But she was completely oblivious to the fact that she wasn't alone.

"You're so stupid to think you've got it bad."

"Huh? Who are you?" She wished she hadn't turned around right then and there.

* * *

"What?! You found two Pretty Cure?!" Starbeam exclaimed, surprised by everything her two sisters told her just now.

"Yeah! Isn't it awesome?!" Sunbeam exclaimed happily like she was a happy sports fan.

Moonbeam was about to say something until her ears suddenly twitched violently.

"What's wrong?" Starbeam asked as she watched Moonbeam's face grow pale with worry.

"It's Zenjin! He's struck again! I heard a scream just now!" Moonbeam exclaimed with a worried look on her pale purple face.

"Where?!" Sunbeam yelped.

"A few streets up! I'll go get Riko and Hotaru!" Moonbeam exclaimed as she flew off to find Riko and Hotaru.

"Let's go stop him this time!" Sunbeam yelped as she fluttered away.

"Wait! Sunbeam! He's too strong! Please don't be reckless!" Starbeam shouted as she gave chase to her fired up little sister, who honestly wanted nothing more than to kick Zenjin's sorry butt and give him what he oh so deserved for what he did to Rozaniela and everyone on it. Sunbeam and Starbeam flew over some trees toward the place where Moonbeam heard the scream as fast as they could. Sunbeam couldn't wait to deal with Zenjin, but Starbeam looked a lot more reluctant. When they got there, they hid in some bushes so they wouldn't be spotted. But what they saw appalled Starbeam.

The girl Nanako is strapped to a big red wall screaming for her life. Zenjin is peering shamelessly into her Soul Portal like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"That's a Soul Portal, isn't it?" Starbeam whispered frightfully. "I thought those were only myths!"

"They're not," Sunbeam told her in a low but choleric whisper.

"Why's he looking into it? Can't he see the girl's screaming?" Starbeam asked.

"I dunno. But he couldn't care less about who he hurts or whether he's invading their privacy or not," Sunbeam mused angrily.

Nanako continued to struggle and scream for her life. "Get off me, you pedophile!" After a short while, Zenjin pulled his head out from the Soul Portal. But he looked quite choleric and stared down at the helpless girl like he saw the most disgusting thing ever.

"You're so pathetic, whining about your parents fighting every day and making your suffering worse than it already is. Your flimsy pain is nothing compared to mine! It's time I show you that my suffering is far greater than yours will ever be, you slime!" Zenjin said at first, then yelled loudly as he thrust his hand into the Soul Portal, causing Nanako to scream and flail and cry louder than before. Starbeam's paws flew to her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

"How can he be so cruel?!" Starbeam said through her paws muffling her mouth. Sunbeam knew exactly what she felt. But this time, she didn't attack him like the other times. _'I wonder what he does to their souls when he rips them out?'_ Sunbeam thought, refraining from stopping him, even though in her heart she really wanted to give him an epic beatdown. Zenjin pulled out a clear brown orb, which, as soon as it touched his hand, began to very gradually turn black. Once it was completely black, Zenjin raised the orb into the sky like he was Moses splitting the Red Sea.

"Come forth, Human Trash!" Zenjin exclaimed as the orb glowed in an eerie black light and began to grow in size.

Finally, Moonbeam, Cure Twilight, and Cure Starlight arrived on the scene as soon as the light dissipated. The black light morphed into a gigantic horse, black as the night, looking like the perfect steed for something like the Headless Horseman. But this horse didn't have any reins, saddle, or anything of the sort. Zenjin turned around to find Cures Twilight and Starlight looking at him with austere, choleric looks.

"Ha! You're just in time! Do you like my creations? I call them Human Trash, because that's what they are inside and out! I have business I need to take care of, so feel free to get your insides crushed by its hooves," Zenjin gloated shamelessly and then tried to fly away.

'_Human Trash? Really?'_ Riko thought, appalled by his name for his _"creations."_

"Starlight Shower!"

"Twilight Serenade!"

Both Pretty Cures shot their attacks at Zenjin, but he knocked them all out and managed to get away, leaving behind a giant, pitch black horse whinnying and wreaking havoc. Quickly, Cure Twilight grabbed Nanako's body and moved her somewhere safe with Moonbeam's help while Cure Starlight immediately took action. With a majestic leap, she jumped onto the horse's back and pulled on its hair, causing it to whinny vociferously and romp around, knocking over some trees and causing them to fall onto the street. Thankfully for her, none of the trees hit any houses due to their small size.

"Starlight Kick!" Cure Starlight kicked the choleric midnight black horse in the neck with a swirl of her leg, but all it did was make the equine even more angry. With another romp, it managed to throw Cure Starlight quite a long distance. In fact, Starlight fell in the exact same place where the fairies heard the screams.

"Starlight!" Cure Twilight cried out fearfully.

"That big horse sure is strong!" Starbeam cried, in awe of the enormous black mare's strength.

Cure Starlight fell on the front porch of a house. Before she could regain her equanimity, someone came out from the house to observe the scene and kneel down to her level. "Whoa! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I…" Cure Starlight finally managed to sit up and was about to thank Cure Twilight for coming to her aid...only it wasn't Cure Twilight who asked if she was okay. It was a girl with a long, blonde ponytail, glasses, and dressed in black clothes. They could hear loud screams echoing from all over the place. People began to evacuate and run for their lives.

"Twilight!" Cure Starlight exclaimed as she got up and tried to leap back to the scene.

"Wait! Don't!" Anzu tried to get her to stay, but Cure Starlight was already too far away for her to reach. Horse whinnies echoed in the air.

"Cat Slash!" Cure Twilight managed leap in the air like a grasshopper to slash the horse's face with her sharp. shiny, silver claws once she jumped to its long face, but it whinnied loudly, causing the purple clad girl to cover her ears and fall into a pile of bushes rather ungracefully. Some of the thistles even dug into her skin. "Meooowch!" She yelped, feeling the sharp thistles pierce her fresh skin like little tiny knives and needles.

"Come on, girls! They need our help!" Sunbeam exclaimed. Moonbeam and Starbeam nodded. The horse tried to gallop away, but the fairies floated over to the rampaging animal and positioned themselves in a circle around it. The clips on their ribbons all glowed in a radiant sunny yellow light. A sparkling yellow barrier surrounded the horse's head, all the way down to its neck. Unfortunately, it only covered its head and neck, not its entire body.

"Without Lovebeam, we can't make our barrier bigger!" Starbeam exclaimed frightfully. The horse whinnied again, shaking its head violently, managing to break the barrier and send the fairies flying.

"I got'cha!" Quickly, Cure Twilight managed to catch all three fairies and set them down next to the unconscious Nanako. Twilight and Starlight then nodded to each other and proceeded to try and beat the monster down with flurries of punches, kicks, and slashes from their weapons, Starlight's naginata and Twilight's pseudo-cat claws. Cure Twilight decided it'd be best to scratch its legs so they'd be too injured to run and carry the horse's weight, hopefully sparing many houses the fate of getting destroyed. She did be scrupulous so that the horse's rock hard, clopping hooves didn't hit her though.

Cure Starlight, unable to keep herself steady on the horse's back, decided she didn't need her naginata anymore and put it away so she could land some serious punches on the horse's face and back. But neither was enough to immobilize the horse. Cure Twilight did manage to punch the horse in the stomach with both of her scrawny little fists, but all it did was make it whinny loudly, causing her to retreat to the ground and cover her ears in fright, as she usually does, the whinnying was that vociferous on her sensitive ears. Unfortunately for the both of them, nothing they did could stop the horse from running up the street quite a good distance despite their best efforts. Cure Starlight then decided to pull on its mane, causing it to whinny vociferously once again, only this time, it galloped and flailed around to try and throw her off.

"Twilight Serenade!" Cure Twilight shot another beam of light at it, but the horse galloped like a raging bull in a rodeo contest, flailing in all directions, managing to evade the attack. Now Cure Twilight was getting impatient. "Arrrrrgh! Why can't we control this thing?!" She held out her Twilight Ring. "I wanna try something!" She exclaimed as she held the ring in her hand and closed her eyes. On cue, her gigantic ring began glowing in a radiant, plum purple light. She opened her eyes.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Cure Twilight threw the glowing ring at the horse like it was a frisbee. Unfortunately for her, the horse flailed around again, managing to successfully evade the glowing ring. It returned to Cure Twilight's hand like a boomerang.

"Awww! Nothing we do is working!" Cure Twilight complained.

Cure Starlight wasn't faring much better. Because the horse is galloping violently, trying its hardest to throw her off like a bull in a rodeo show, Starlight began to become a little green in the face, though she tried desperately to keep her composure. But then she caught sight of Nanako's unconscious body lying by the tree.

Then it hit her. "Shiga-san?!"

"Wait, who is this?" Cure Twilight asked as she tried to punch the horse's side, but wound up falling into a tree like a rag doll. She did manage to leap safely back to the ground on her winged shoes. The little wings on her shoes flapped a little so as to break her fall, which they did successfully.

"That's Shiga Nanako! She's in my homeroom! This horse is her corrupted soul!" Cure Starlight exclaimed. She remembered that Nanako didn't join the pandemonium that consumed her homeroom once Kurahashi loudly revealed to the world that the police officer involved in Kirito's murder was cleared of all charges. All she did was sit there and read her own copy of the school newspaper.

"_All my parents do is fight!"_ The horse whinnied in a somber, dejected, but hauntingly high-pitched voice. Finally, it managed to throw off Cure Starlight, but she regained her equanimity and gracefully landed feet first onto the concrete, the wings on both her ocean blue shoes flapping as she descended, breaking her fall. _"All they do is yell and scream and hate each other! Why can't things be back to the way they were before?! We don't even do anything together anymore! I'm sick of this stupid divorce!"_ The horse whinnied again abjectly as it knocked over a big tree with its hooves, flattening a mailbox to the point where it's literally as flat as the sidewalk it was meshed into.

'_Could that be why she's so sad?'_ Cure Starlight thought. Upon further reminiscing, Nanako was never seen without a frown on her face. She just drudged through each day looking so somber, so depressed, so outright dejected that one would think a family member died. It'd be one thing if she was sad for just one day, but Nanako was known for being somber and dejected practically every single day. Cures Starlight and Twilight finally decided to do a double front kick on the horse, causing it to fall on its left side, crashing down onto the concrete, making quite an enormous dent in the street the size of a queen size bed. However, the horse didn't stay down for long. Soon, it got right back up, whinnied, and galloped right after the two girls.

"Yeeeeeek!" Cure Twilight screamed like she saw a horror movie and ran as fast as she could from the gigantic, black, rampaging horse, with Cure Starlight running alongside her.

"How can that horse be so strong?!" Cure Starlight yelled irritably, perturbed by the fact that the two of them together just can't keep it down for more than ten seconds, which wasn't enough time for them to charge up their attacks and purify Nanako's soul.

"I can't fight it anymore! I'm scaaaared! Meeeeooooow!" Cure Twilight wailed in a piercing screech. All she wanted to do now was go home. She didn't want to get stomped on by a horse's hooves. She knew horse hooves can be extremely fatal if they hit a person in certain vital areas.

"Whaddo we do now?" Moonbeam exclaimed as she, Sunbeam and Starbeam stopped to catch their breath after getting knocked out before. All of a sudden, a piercing scream came out of Starbeam's mouth. "What's wrong now?!" Moonbeam yelped, sounding very exasperated. Understandable, since it's not everyday a giant black mare is wreaking havoc in a suburb.

"The blonde harmonica girl!" Starbeam screamed fearfully. It took one look for Moonbeam and Sunbeam to realize what she meant and gasp with unadulterated horror.

Anzu is running toward the rampaging equine! With a calm look on her face!

"We gotta stop her!" Sunbeam shouted as she, Moonbeam, and Starbeam fluttered toward the rampaging black mare despite it outrunning them.

The Pretty Cures only managed to run for about three blocks. Exhausted from too much running, Cure Twilight fell to her knees in front of some untouched trees that led to the nearby woods. "I...can't...run...any...more...too...tired…" Twilight croaked out only one word between pants, she was that exhausted and languid.

"But the horse is gaining on us! We'll get trampled!" Cure Starlight exclaimed fearfully, knowing they're sitting ducks that'll turn into a horse's race track if they stay. But truth be told, Starlight was exhausted as well.

"_I just want everything to end! Why didn't that officer kill me instead?! That way I wouldn't have to put up with all of this garbage!"_ The horse whinnied somberly. It was clear that Nanako lost all of her faith as it stopped in front of the two girls and raised its front hooves, about to stomp on the girls. The fairies couldn't gain any more speed, and even they were getting tired from too much flying, especially since Moonbeam and Sunbeam spent the entire day looking for Starbeam before this.

Cure Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the tragic outcome. But instead of seeing, she and Starlight ended up hearing. Hearing a sound they never expected to hear in a situation like this.

A harmonica.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes to a very strange sight. The horse is standing in a normal position, with all of its hooves planted firmly onto the concrete, not raised like before. Instead of looking pained, now it was content, its long face and neck softly swaying back and forth, left and right, like it was swinging to the rhythm of the harmonica music and enjoying it peacefully. Its eyes are both closed. It was no longer complaining, whinnying, or crying.

Anzu stood firmly next to the horse, calmly playing her harmonica like it was the most normal thing in the world. The song is different from the Johnny Cash song she played this morning. This one was much softer, more mellow, more soothing, something that would definitely be calming to someone who's had a rough day.

"An-chan?! What the-?!" Cure Twilight exclaimed, completely flabbergasted by her appearance, her emerald eyes wide with shock and awe.

"You know her?" Starlight asked curiously.

"Yeah! She's one of my friends from school!" Twilight croaked with surprise still painting her face. "The horse...likes the music!"

Even the fairies couldn't help but be amazed by how just the sound of a tiny, diminutive little thing like a silver harmonica can calm a gigantic black horse that was knocking down trees, destroying houses, and making huge dents in the street just seconds before. Soon, the harmonica music ceased. Anzu pulled it from her mouth, and looked at the horse with courage blazing in her pale green, lime-like eyes, standing firm as a statue, unwilling to just simply run away like a coward.

"Hey you! Giant black horse! I heard you whining earlier!" Anzu exclaimed in a bold, almost husky voice. "I know what it's like to have parents that hate each other! My mom wants custody of me, but only because she wants me to be her perfect little doll that she can mend so I can be her perfect little daughter. I puke three times a month, and I have been for the past three years because of it! I'll bet you're sick of it all too, but that doesn't make it right for you to take your anger out on everybody when they didn't even do anything to you! And you can't escape it by dying either! You have to live your life the way you wish! Dying won't make things better!"

The horse turned around, becoming cognizant of Anzu's presence. It's pointed ears stood up, the pointed edges pointing to the sky and twitching a little, which to the trained eye, means that it hears what she's saying._ "All I want is for all the yelling and screaming to stop!"_

"Believe, I want the fights between my parents to stop, too! But this won't make the pain go away! It'll only make it worse!" Anzu exclaimed, unfazed.

'_People can puke if their parents fight a lot? That can happen?'_ Riko thought curiously, her curiosity-filled head canted to the left side a little bit in confusion.

Unfortunately for Anzu, Nanako's corrupted soul didn't listen, as it decided to gallop toward her and try to trample her with her hooves. Anzu quickly jumped out of the way and rolled onto the concrete, her long, beautiful blonde hair getting some gravel stuck in it.

"Ah! Sunbeam! Your ribbon!" Starbeam exclaimed with surprise consuming her high voice.

"Huh?!" Sunbeam shouted as she looked down. The sun shaped clip on her crimson red ribbon is glowing in a radiant, sunshine yellow light, shining like a star in the sky. The light came out of Sunbeam's ribbon and dissipated to reveal a yellow Heart Lighter with a gold, sun-shaped cap on it, which had a little light glowing inside of it as well. On impulse, Sunbeam twisted the sun-shaped cap and removed it from the star shaped perfume bottle, allowing the yellow light to fly out of it and float towards a very confused Anzu, who managed to stand back up. As it flew in front of her, it flashed brighter than before, causing one of Anzu's arms to fly into her face.

"Ugh! What the heck is this?!" Anzu yelped.

"An-chan! Grab the light!" Cure Twilight yelled as loud as she could.

"Why?!"

"Just do it! Hurry!" The horse knocked down another tree not too far away.

Not wanting to argue, Anzu grabbed the light. As soon as it was trapped in her palm, the light dissipated, allowing Anzu to open her eyes and discover that it turned into a golden yellow jewel in the shape of a heart, with a little sun-like pattern right in the middle. The yellow Heart Lighter itself glowed for a second, then stopped, revealing a hollow, heart shaped cavity. Sunbeam, knowing what this meant, took the Heart Lighter and flew over to a confused Anzu.

"What's going on?!" Anzu asked.

"The Heart Lighter has resonated with you! That means you're a Pretty Cure, a legendary warrior who can purify Shiga-san's corrupted soul! Now hurry! Take the Heart Lighter, put the jewel in the cavity and say, _'Pretty Cure, let the light shine!'_ and it'll do the rest!" Sunbeam explained with a bright, sunny smile on her face.

Anzu wasn't quite sure what was going on, what this strange creature was, and why it was asking her to do something she'd never done before. But considering the strange and unprecedented circumstances going on right now, she figured she might as well do it and see what happens. Despite being fearful and hesitant, she put the yellow, heart shaped jewel into the hollow area, and howled like a scared child once a tsunami of golden yellow light consumed her from the toes up.

"Pretty Cure, let the light shine!" She shouted as she held the Heart Lighter in the air. The heart object dissolved into the perfume bottle, not only filling in the gap, but filling the bottle with a kind of translucent, golden yellow liquid.

Anzu spun around in circles and sprayed it all over herself. As soon as the perfume made contact with her normal clothes, they changed completely! Instead of her usual black attire and Sweeney Todd themed hoodie, she found herself donning a sleeveless pale yellow and white shirt with little yellow suns going down the chest part, along with some lacy white frills on each side of them, along with a pair of darker yellow shorts. A large, dark yellow ribbon appeared on her shirt with a shiny lighter yellow sun decoration on it. On both of her arms are armbands with white lace frills circling them, both with one solitary yellow sun on each. A small, pale yellow, blanket-like cloth with darker yellow pockets on each side wrapped around her waist, with the ends connected to the front by a yellow sun-shaped, belt-like decoration. She is wearing snow white, thigh high socks that go a little bit below her shorts, little yellow shoes with darker yellow suns on them that looked like slip on ballet shoes, and little pairs of white wings on each of them. She now has a large, white hair ribbon supporting her long ponytail whose ends look very much like pointed rabbit ears. Her hair itself darkened slightly, making it look more gold, like regular gold. Fingerless, dark yellow gloves appeared on both of her hands, but they went up to her forearms. A little dark yellow sun like jewel appeared just above her collarbone. The Heart Lighter dangled from her shorts like a little keychain. Soon, the light surrounding her dissipated, bringing her back to Earth.

She descended radiantly before the black mare, who backed away and whinnied vociferously as soon as she made her shiny entrance. Now she looked quite radiant, like the yellow sun shining brightly in the sky right now. "I am the light that will bring in the new day, Cure Dawn!"

"Aww. I thought she was gonna be something like Cure Sunlight," Cure Twilight mused.

"I don't believe it…" Cure Starlight whispered to herself, awestruck by Anzu's radiant and stunning transformation and the revelation that just smacked them across their faces.

"She's a Pretty Cure now!" Starbeam exclaimed joyfully.

Soon, Anzu, now Cure Dawn, suddenly looked down at her new raiment, looking quite flummoxed as to how the heck she managed to change clothes and now suddenly look like she came out of an idol concert. "Whoa…" She mused curiously to herself. "This can't be real. Am I dreaming or something? What's with the magical girl get-up?" She asked herself, confused.

Cure Twilight's ears suddenly picked up on the sound of hooves clopping. "An-chan! Look out!" She shouted.

Cure Dawn, seeing that the horse is galloping toward her without a second thought, leaped out of the black mare's path, right into the air like she's flying. She hopped onto the roof of one house and rummaged through the pockets on the shawl around her waist. "Is there some kind of weapon I can use or something?" She asked as she rummaged through her pockets. Finally, she pulled out a small set of shiny, golden yellow nunchucks with sun-like patterns carved into them, which instantly grew bigger as soon as she pulled them out.

"I don't know what the heck is going on, but...I might as well join the party!" Cure Dawn said as she got her nunchucks out, readied them, and made a majestic leap from the house's roof toward the confused black mare. As soon as she got close to the horse's long face, she slammed both sides of her nunchucks on it, causing it to lose its balance and become unsteady. It didn't fall down right off. After that, Cure Dawn's nunchucks began to glow in a radiant golden yellow color, suddenly spouting blazing golden flames that danced wildly.

"Dawn Flame!" Spinning around like a ballerina, the dancing yellow flame floated in the air, and she smacked it with her nunchucks like a baseball bat hitting a home run, sending the flame flying toward the black mare and consuming it, causing it to whinny loudly.

"Don't hurt it too much! That horse is actually a person's corrupted soul! You have to purify it so it can be back to normal!" Cure Twilight cried out as loud as she could despite the horse's whinnying being quite vociferous.

"Thanks for the info!" Cure Dawn replied with a thumbs up, grateful for Cure Twilight's warning.

Without meaning to, she held her nunchucks into the air like she was trying to summon the Gods. "Lend me your strength, holy light!" She shouted in a booming voice. _'Okay...why am I saying this weird stuff? Holy light? What?'_ She thought as her nunchucks glowed in a warm, golden yellow light. She made some elegant movements with her nunchucks like a ninja and gripped both ends with her hands. "Dawn Nunchucks, Power Up!"

Standing firmly in front of the yellow flame consumed horse, she pointed her glowing nunchucks at the horse. "You needn't suffer anymore. The corrupting darkness will be banished, and the light in your heart will shine again!" Her nunchucks made a small, glowing, yellow ball of light appear in front of her like a little mini sun, which floated toward the horse. "Dawn Burst!"

As soon as the light made contact with the whinnying black mare, it exploded like a star reaching the end of its days, literally making the black mare's skin peel right off like someone was ripping off wallpaper. Soon, the helpless black mare fell to pieces completely, and then its pieces disappeared into thin air like the horse never existed. Once the glowing yellow light dissipated, Nanako's pale brown orb appeared on the ground, intact, and without the tiniest crack on its hard, pristine surface. Confused, Cure Dawn ambled over to it, bent over, and very gently and slowly picked it up, gripping it firmly in her hands.

"Wow! You were amazing out there, An-chan, and it was your very first try!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she glomped Cure Dawn and squeezed her while laughing happily, making the blonde girl even more confused.

"Uhhh…" Cure Dawn muttered, still having a bit of a hard time comprehending what she just did and everything else that just happened, until Cure Starlight ambled over to them.

"Twilight. You might want to get off of her. She's probably confused out of her mind," Starlight told her calmly.

"Ack! Sorry! I'm an idiot!" Twilight exclaimed as she realized what she did and removed herself from the confused newcomer. "Oh! That crystal ball you're holding is that girl's soul," She explained as she pointed to the unconscious Nanako, whose Soul Portal was still bare and exposed. "You gotta put it back in. But you have to be REALLY careful, because if it breaks, she'll die."

"Ohhh! I get it now. Better get to it," Cure Dawn said as she ambled over to the unconscious Nanako, kneeled down, and very slowly dropped her soul into her Soul Portal. Once it fell right in, the Soul Portal disappeared, and the color returned to Nanako's face. The girls and fairies decided to leave so Nanako wouldn't notice them. They hid behind some untouched trees.

"Thanks a lot for helping us out. That horse was a bit...too strong for us," Cure Twilight told her.

"Don't mention it, Riko," Cure Dawn replied rather casually.

"Wait, what?!" Riko shouted with shock, her emerald eyes wide and bright. "You can tell it's me?!"

"Yeah. Your voice gives it away," Cure Dawn said. "Plus you called me An-chan earlier."

"Ohhh. I see. Oh! This is Minamigawa Hotaru, my brother's friend. She's a Pretty Cure, too! And these are the fairies Sunbeam and Moonbeam," Riko replied, then decided to introduce everyone to her.

"Don't forget Starbeam here!" Moonbeam exclaimed as she pointed to Starbeam.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. It's a pleasure to be acquainted with you all, and I'm very much looking forward to working with you in the future," Starbeam told them very politely and bowed before them quite formally. Hotaru couldn't help but laugh.

"There's no need to be so formal, little one," Hotaru told the pale blue fairy with a chuckle.

"Yeah. We're sorry all this craziness had to happen," Riko said.

"Yeah, it is kinda crazy, but it's alright. So these little guys are fairies, huh?" Anzu said as the fairies floated up to her.

"Yep! We're fairies!" Sunbeam exclaimed. Anzu gently scooped Sunbeam in her hands and began nudging her cheek against hers.

"You're so cuuuute! And so soft and warm!" Anzu crooned sweetly as she rubbed herself against little Sunbeam, who giggled cutely as the yellow-clad girl nuzzled her.

"Hey! That tickles!" Sunbeam exclaimed. Riko, Hotaru, Moonbeam, and Starbeam laughed in response to this for a bit.

"Starbeam?" Hotaru asked.

"Eh?"

"If you want, you're more than welcome to stay at my house."

"Really? But is that alright, though? Won't I be a burden?"

"Not at all," Hotaru replied with a sweet smile. "I'd love to have a cute, fluffy animal friend keep me company. Plus, you look like you need some well-needed rest."

"It is true. I am truly grateful for your magnanimous generosity, and I promise to not be a burden or expose myself so as to draw unwanted attention," Starbeam told her very formally.

"Does...she always talk with big words?" Riko asked, a little cowed by Starbeam's verbose, erudite vocabulary and formal way of speaking.

"Yep," Moonbeam and Sunbeam replied in perfect unison.

"Isn't this cool though, An-chan? We're superheroes now, and we can fight crime together! We can save the world from a great evil and preserve justice! Won't that be awesome?!" Riko exclaimed happily, like she's about to burst into a paroxysm of joy.

"I'm kinda...still having a hard time believing all of this. But I'd love to fight by your side, since we're already friends and all," Anzu replied sheepishly, a little bit embarrassed by everything that's happened. Riko was oblivious to this, however, and proceeded to embrace Anzu in a tight squeeze again.

"Yay! Yay yay yay! We're partners! This is gonna be sooo cool! We're gonna fight crime and stuff! But you're probably a way better fighter than I am," Riko rambled as she squeezed Anzu like she was a pillow. The fairies and Hotaru couldn't help but laugh, happy that everything's back to normal for now. "Oh! One other thing...Zenjin called the corrupted souls Human Trash," Riko suddenly said as she stopped cheering.

"I know. He said that. That sounds pretty degrading and offensive, don't you think?" Hotaru asked with her arms crossed.

"I agree. Oh! How about something like...the Corrupt Sentinels?" Anzu piped in.

"Ohhh! I like that much better! It sounds cooler!" Riko exclaimed.

"I like it too. Let's call them Corrupt Sentinels from now on," Hotaru said. Soon, they transformed back to normal and went back home, hopefully to return to their normal day.

But this was only the beginning.


	5. Cure Dusk, Flame On!

Chapter 5: Let the Flames of Compassion Burn! Cure Dusk, Blaze!

The next day was a happy Friday for most, if not all, in Hikaribashi. But for some people, it isn't so happy. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and flowers and all that good stuff. In fact, it's one of the most somber, gloom-filled days they've ever had. Sometimes, some people's days consisting of nothing but incessant somberness and gloom, without a single spec of happiness to be found. Not even the tiniest little glimmer of hope.

That couldn't be more true for one man in particular. In Hikaribashi High School's vast, clean, so far untouched soccer field, full of green grass sprouting from the dirt, with the goals standing proudly on both sides, is a man in his mid to late fifties, wearing nothing but a pair of small, rectangle-shaped glasses, a dark brown suit, a white shirt, black work shoes, a pitch black bow tie around his collar, and a dark brown fedora with a black band tied around it. He is standing in front of a black metal chair a little ways from the field that has a picture of the boy who was murdered six months ago, Sogabe Kirito. The picture is tucked neatly in a teak frame, surrounded by beautiful flowers in multifarious colors, all neatly wrapped in bouquets also in multifarious colors. There are also candles that haven't been lit yet, stuffed animals, little white boards with inspiring messages like _"We miss you, Kirito-kun!"_ and _"Be safe in Heaven!"_ and _"God bless you!"_ and _"You'll always be in our hearts!"_ written on them in markers in colors like green, yellow, and orange, little soccer balls, and little white flags with red circles on it. Japan's flag.

Kirito is happy and smiling radiantly in the picture, like he's having the best and happiest day of his young life. The man standing in front of said picture is anything but happy. In fact, as soon as he laid eyes on it, he began softly sobbing.

"Kirito...my son...I've failed you...I've failed you in every way...I'm so sorry, dear boy...I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you...I'm a failure as a father…" The man, revealing himself to be Kirito's father, choked out weakly and abjectly, his face becoming a contorted watercolor canvas of tears. There was no way he could stop them from coming out. Soon, he felt weak in the knees, and his legs found that they couldn't possibly keep him standing, so they conceded defeat and fell to the grass, taking a grief-stricken Mr. Sogabe down with them. His bare hands gripped the grass tightly as he stared down at the blurry greenery. More tears fell onto the grass, with the dirt drinking them up in order to give itself nutrients.

"I...I'm so, so, so sorry...Kirito...how can you ever...forgive me…?" The sad, abject, broken man croaked so weakly it was a wonder he could even talk at all. After some more crying, he began banging his fist into the soft grass, flattening some strands of it. But he didn't care one bit. It's just grass. It'll grow back. Some birds flew to another tree singing their beautiful songs. But they were painfully unaware of the pain the man is going through. How can those birds be so insensitive as to go their merry way, singing lovely little twitters and flying across the gentle spring breeze and not give a whit about anything else going on around them?

All Mr. Sogabe did was cry into the grass and let his tears fall gently down toward it. He is quite oblivious to the fact that other students and faculty soon began dispersing onto the previously completely empty soccer field, Hikage, Hotaru, Nanako, and a tear-stricken Kurahashi included.

"Is that his dad?" Hikage asked the kid next to him.

"Yeah. He was at the trial, and he's on the paper too," The kid next to him replied somberly.

"I can't imagine how painful it must be to lose your own child," Hotaru muttered sadly, sympathizing with the man despite not being in his circumstances. Her heart went out to him. So did everyone else's.

* * *

"Dad? Where's Hikage? Shouldn't he be home by now?" Riko asked as she was working on some thankfully easy homework in the dining room, with Rina happily and contentedly playing with Yumiko, the miniature Australian shepherd.

"Yeah. Where is he anyway?" Rina asked, feeling the same way as little Yumiko began crawling into her lap quite happily, albeit a little haphazardly.

"He has something to do after school, so he'll be coming home a little late," Arinao replied as he signed some more checks across from Riko. "Do you need any help? I'd be more than happy to assist you."

"Thanks, but it's fine. This stuff is easy so I'll get it done," Riko replied as she solved another problem on her homework.

"Isn't everything supposed to be hard for people like you?" Rina asked innocently as the overly exuberant little Yumiko licked her little palms vigorously.

"Rina. Watch your mouth," Arinao told her sternly, which made the petulant little girl go back to preferring the company of the dog. Riko paid no heed. She'd rather do homework than put up with Rina, easy or hard. Thankfully for Riko, the homework really is easy, and it doesn't take long to do. She got the hard stuff done already. After a couple minutes, she finally managed to reach the final problem and solve it without a hitch.

"Yes! Done and done!" Riko said as she put the worksheet in her notebook, closed it, took it, and proceeded to walk back to her room and put it back in her book bag so she won't have to worry about it anymore. Arinao, Rina, and Yumiko were all left alone in the dining room together.

"Hey Dad?" Rina asked.

"Yes, Rina?"

"You're not gonna work at my school, are you?" Rina asked.

"I'm applying there, but I haven't gotten the job yet," Arinao replied.

Rina stuck out her lips in a pouty way. _'I don't want him to come to my school every day. If he does, he'll find out I haven't made any friends yet, and it's been almost a week already!'_ Rina thought.

"So, Rina, have you made any new friends yet?" Arinao asked.

"Uhh...I sure have! I made lots and lots of friends!" Rina exclaimed in a bit of a spoiled sounding way, crossing her arms like she's a sassy TV star. "In fact, I'm friends with the entire classroom!"

"That's great. Why don't you tell me about them?" Arinao replied with a smile.

It's here that Rina stopped talking. But she didn't even get to talk anyway, as Saki came into the room. "Hey Rina! We're going to have your favorite today! Chicken and rice pilaf!" Saki exclaimed happily.

"Really?! Yay! Thanks, Mom!" Rina cheered happily and glomped her joyful mother like she was the best thing in the whole world.

"It'll be done in a couple hours, but you'd better start on your homework, sweetie," Saki told her.

"But I don't like homework. It's boring!" Rina whined.

"I know, but wouldn't you rather get it done and over with so you don't forget?" Saki asked back.

'_Oneechan's already done with hers,'_ Rina thought before releasing her arms from her mother's waist. "Alright. But I don't like spelling," Rina mused to herself as she walked back to her room to start on her homework.

"Any luck finding your other sister?" Riko asked as Moonbeam read a book and Sunbeam ate some snacks she brought up. Both fairies shook their heads dejectedly.

"We've looked everywhere, and she isn't anywhere in sight," Moonbeam mused sadly.

"I'm not surprised. Zenjin's power sent us pretty far from each other, and we've never been to this world before, so of course it'd be hard to find Lovebeam," Sunbeam told her.

"You've never been here before?" Riko asked, though she's not surprised.

"Nope. This is our very first time on Earth," Moonbeam told her. "By the way, Riko-chan, is this book your favorite?" Moonbeam asked, showing Riko a book she's reading.

"_A Little Princess_(1)? Yep, it's one of my favorites. There's an anime for it too, and I have all the DVDs!" Riko told her with a smile.

"Because I absolutely adore it so far! I'm already on the chapter where Mr. Carrisford moves in! I really don't understand how they can be so cruel to poor Sara! If the Rozanielans were in this book, they'd take her away so they can save her from all her suffering!" Moonbeam exclaimed excitedly, like a true fan girl. Riko couldn't help but laugh.

"You'd have to read the rest in order to see how it ends," Riko said. "By the way, what do you fairies like to do? Do you have any hobbies? Like drawing or playing?" She asked curiously.

"I like playing video games!" Sunbeam piped in as she finished a piece of chocolate flavored pocky. "Does cooking count as a hobby, too?"

"I think it does, yeah," Moonbeam replied.

"You can cook?" Riko asked, confused.

"Yep! I LOVE cooking all kinds of stuff! I can make seafood, pasta, breakfast stuff, and anything spicy!" Sunbeam exclaimed.

"But how can you cook when your arms have no hands or fingers? Won't you get burned?" Riko asked.

"I just can! I'd love to show you, but your family's here and I don't wanna scare them. Plus I can only cook recipes from Rozaniela, not Earth stuff, so I'll have to learn more about those, plus I'll be careful!" Sunbeam exclaimed, remembering a time when she and her sisters sat at a little round table in their little house, eating food that Sunbeam cooked and chatting happily amongst themselves, with a warm, blazing fire dancing in the fireplace with the familiar crackling sizzling noise it made.

"It's true. She's very good at it," Moonbeam empathized her point.

"But still...don't cookers have to have fingers? To be able to hold spoons and spatulas and pots and pans in certain ways? And won't everything fall and burn you?" Riko asked again, confused.

'_Does she always fixate on certain things she doesn't know about until she gets solid answers?'_ Moonbeam thought to herself silently, a little flummoxed by Riko's rather persistent train of thought in regards to how Sunbeam is able to cook. Moonbeam had to wonder if Riko doesn't believe Sunbeam can really cook unless she sees it with her own eyes. Then again, she can't blame her for being confused. Wouldn't anybody be confused just by seeing otherworldly creatures at all?

"Starbeam usually helps me with the heavy grunting work in that kinda stuff," Sunbeam piped in.

All of a sudden, the door to Riko's room flung open. Moonbeam and Sunbeam, not wanting to be exposed, remained as still as mannequins, hoping to pass as Riko's stuffed animals so whoever is coming in won't suspect anything or be shocked, dropping whatever they were doing in the process. Riko couldn't believe they can react so quickly like that. She wished she was as quick to react to something as they are. But not surprisingly to Riko, it's Arinao who's coming into her room with a smile on his bearded face.

"Hi Riko. Do you want to go for a walk? Just the two of us this time," Arinao asked.

"Sure! I'd love to! I just gotta put my shoes and socks back on real quick," Riko said.

Arinao smiled again. "Take your time," He said before quietly leaving the room. Riko grabbed her white and yellow star themed socks and pulled them back on. Once she put them back on, she pushed her feet back into her sneakers.

"I'll be back soon, okay? Then once dinner comes around, I'll give you some. Bye! Meow!" Riko told them before she dashed out of her room, leaving Moonbeam and Sunbeam all by themselves.

"Thanks," Moonbeam and Sunbeam muttered in perfect unison once it was safe for them to move around again. Unbeknownst to Riko, Moonbeam and Sunbeam decided to fly out the window again, obviously to look for their other lost sister.

Once Riko came down the steps, she and Arinao stepped out of the house to go for another nice little walk in the neighborhood. The scenery around them hasn't changed one bit, aside from quite a few piles of cloudy, cotton candy pink cherry blossoms seen in some people's front yards. The denizens of the neighborhood probably cleared out their sidewalks and streets when the blossoms fell. She couldn't really see why, though. Wouldn't they have just withered away whether they picked them up or not? Riko began losing herself in thought until Arinao began speaking.

"So tell me. What's this Anzu girl like? Is she nice?" Arinao asked.

"Yeah, she is. She sits with me and Kyo-chan at our table at lunch now. She likes playing her harmonica and she likes anime and manga and games like I do. No one else really likes her, though," Riko replied with a smile.

"How come?" Arinao asked curiously, interested in knowing more.

"Dunno. Some kids say she's some stuck-up goth girl, but she isn't. I've met stuck-up people, and An-chan isn't one of them," Riko said. She then looked up at Arinao with a somewhat sad expression, stopping in her tracks. "Dad, why do people act like they know someone when they really don't and say mean stuff about them?"

"Some people are just like that, Ri-chan. Some people just have nothing better to do and feel that picking on people or acting like they know everything about someone they don't know is the best way for them to get by in life," Arinao explained as lucidly as he could, hoping she'd understand. "The schools you went to were very bad. They didn't know anything about Autism, or, rather, they chose not to learn about it and understand it. Instead of helping you when you needed help and understanding you better, they decided you were naughty and bad without any regard for what doing that would do to you in the long run."

"That's stupid," Riko piped in. "I'm not bad. Why do they all think I'm bad or weird? Asagi-san, too. Everyone says she's gonna be bad because she's a criminal's kid, but it's not like she wanted a criminal for a dad. Right?"

"I agree," Arinao said, remembering his first encounter with the orange haired girl who bullied Riko on her first day, seeing that she's just a sad, broken little bird who everyone thinks is going to be bad through and through just because her dad happens to be a criminal. Just seeing Marina be so nice to the kitten that day convinced him that there's at least some remaining good in her heart, and if cultivated, Marina just might be able to abandon her bullying ways and see that not everyone thinks she's bad due to circumstances she doesn't want. "Some people are just stupid, Ri-chan. But not everybody's like that."

"And how come when people do tell them the truth, they don't listen at all and still act like they know stuff better than everyone else when they don't?"

"People can be really stubborn and closed-minded, where they just don't want to listen. Some people just won't shut up, take a breath, and get the facts. Not only that, some people might not believe you when you do tell them since you're so young. But I agree, it's stupid to say mean things to people and act like you know them when you really don't," Arinao explained calmly.

"Oh! By the way, speaking of back then, why didn't we move away earlier?" Riko asked.

"We were short on money, and the school district we lived in was trying really hard to keep us from getting you out of that wretched school. Some stupid policy about how kids living in their district absolutely HAVE to stay and graduate no matter what unless its an emergency, and apparently getting you the help you needed didn't count as an emergency to them," Arinao explained. He was about to say something more until some rather passionate yelling in the distance bereaved him of the opportunity to continue.

"Will you bozos quit it already?!" Riko recognized the voice. It was Marina. Arinao did too. They ran to the corner to find Marina standing in front of a bewildered police officer, at the mercy of three bulky-looking teenage boys. Little twigs and stones surrounded Marina and the officer.

"Why are you taking his side?! Uomisaki's a murderer!" One boy shouted angrily, referring to the flustered officer as Uomisaki.

"No he's not, you idiot! It was an accident! He didn't mean it!" Marina snapped back with gusto.

"Quit acting like you know what's what! He killed Sogabe! You know it, I know it, we all know it! You shouldn't be siding with monsters like him!" Another kid shouted.

"Then again, it isn't so surprising since you're gonna be one yourself! You ARE the daughter of a gang-banger and rapist after all!" The third kid exclaimed maliciously.

"I dare you to say that again, beaver teeth!" Marina shot back, her golden eyes ready to burst into flames, along with her already flaring temper.

"Knock it off, boys!" Arinao suddenly shouted out of nowhere, quietly but sternly ambling between Marina and the rowdy teenage boys. He turned on his heel to stare them down like a very austere teacher. "You should know better than to pick on a little girl. If you know what's good for you, I suggest you leave at once."

"Nuh-uh! We ain't leavin' 'til we give that Uomisaki Toyoki some payback for killin' Kirito!" The first kid shouted angrily.

"It's his fault he's dead! You killed him in cold blood, you monster! You should be in jail forever and ever, not walking around a free man!" The third kid shouted vehemently.

"Believe me, I know the whole story. But think about it for a second. You weren't there, so you wouldn't know. What if it really was an accident? What if it was just a freak thing that was never intended to happen at all? You need to listen and think a little. It's not that hard," Arinao told the rowdy boys sternly. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. "Don't act like you know someone when you don't."

"Quit talkin' big, you idiot! He's just pretending to be all saddy-sad so he can feel good about himself and not feel guilty! He's a monster! He did it for kicks and he won't admit it!" The second kid shouted. Riko knew he wouldn't listen. Nobody ever listens to the truth. "It's 'cuz of stupid idiots like you he gets to walk free and possibly kill more people!"

"My dad's not stupid! You're the idiots!" Riko, on impulse, suddenly shouted angrily without thinking. Riko knew it well. Her father is a good man. How can these stupid boys call him an idiot when they clearly don't know what he's capable of?

"Kenji! Dinner's ready! Come on inside! I don't want any more racket!" Someone from another house suddenly shouted, prompting the boys to finally abdicate and retreat, but not before throwing in some final words to the bewildered officer.

"We'll bash your brains in some day! Or better yet, go kill yourself! We'll all be better off!"

"It's your fault our friend is dead! You killed him in cold blood and liked it!"

"Go to Hades, you monster! We already have enough brainless killers lurking the Earth! We hope you suffer and die in pain!"

With that, the boys finally left, leaving Riko, Marina, Arinao, and officer Toyoki all alone on that part of the street. Arinao approached the middle-aged, bewildered officer with a soft, kind expression of concern. "Are you okay?" He became more concerned when he noticed a rather nasty, ugly bruise on the left part of his chin that looked like a beaten up eggplant.

The man raised one of his hands, keeping the good samaritan from touching him. "Thanks, but don't bother. I have something I need to do. Bye," Toyoki told him and ambled away. Arinao couldn't help but notice he looked more like he was limping than walking.

"Hi, Asagi-san," Riko said awkwardly, feeling a little tense around this fiery, orange haired girl. The memory of their first meeting hadn't quite been kicked out of her brain yet.

"Hi, Tasogare," Marina replied pertly, not feeling any better.

"What happened?" Riko asked curiously with concern in her sweet voice.

"Those guys were picking on me, and he stepped in. Then they started throwing sticks and rocks at him," Marina retorted rather irritably.

"He gonna be okay?"

"I don't know. I saw the trial on the news. The protesters were NOT happy. Chances are his house is gonna get egged or spray painted or worse."

"Egged? What's that mean?"

'_Huh?! She doesn't know what egged means?!'_ Marina thought, shocked that Riko doesn't know what egged means. But she decided not to make a big deal about it and just explained it. "If your house gets egged, it means people throw eggs at it."

"Ew! Gross!"

"I know, right?"

"By the way, did you get to keep the kitten?"

"Mom says I can, but I really have to do well in school, quit being a jerk, do chores around the house, and take care of it. But it's better than nothing."

"I'm glad. What's its name."

"Fern."

"Fern? Like the girl from Charlotte's Web?"

"Yeah."

"You don't look like the type who'd read or like reading."

"You think?"

Riko couldn't help the smile that creeped onto her face when she replied like that. Perhaps Marina isn't so bad after all. Maybe she really is a nice person inside. The nice person was obviously getting squashed down by all the hatred being thrown at her, kind of like what the police officer was getting just now. It's actually kind of understandable, really. Any person can do questionable things if you treat them like garbage for a ridiculously long time.

"Are you alright, Asagi-san?" Arinao asked, interrupting their conversation.

"Yeah. Thanks for stepping in, though I could have handled them myself," Marina piped in.

"Don't mention it. I just didn't want you to get in trouble. If there's any trouble, feel free to let us or someone else know. Okay?" Arinao told her calmly.

"Sure."

"You'd better get home. Your mother might be worried about you."

"I'm actually going to the dollar store to pick up some milk."

"I can take you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've done it lots of times. I better go. Bye," Marina told him shyly, then ran away, leaving Riko and Arinao alone.

"Isn't she a little young to be going out on her own?" Riko asked.

"Maybe. But we'd better get back home," Arinao said.

* * *

Not long after this, the shunned police man in question, Uomisaki Toyoki, walked toward a warm-looking, beige colored house, with a bright, warm, peachy orange roof, windows with white shutters, a grey porch with some multifarious flowers safely tucked in murky orange pots that are sitting on it, and black railing. The man stood at the foot of the porch, fearful to take one step up. Anxiety literally consumed him and swallowed him whole, inside and out, like a hippo vigorously chomping on its prey, never to let it go, no matter how much it struggled, wriggled, writhed, and fought. He just stood there, frozen in place, like a motionless mannequin in a store, only Toyoki wasn't surrounded by people, and whenever he was, it was never pretty. In his mind, he wanted to step on the porch and knock on the door. The name plate on the door read Sogabe. But his legs wouldn't move. His feet, swallowed by his black police man shoes, seemed as though they were superglued to the ground.

They weren't, actually. After some fist clenching and teeth grinding, he finally managed to pull his feet off the ground and pull himself onto the porch, one step at a time. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Four steps. It's normally very easy for people, but for this man, his legs felt like they had titanium bricks duct taped onto them, making it near impossible for him to even take one step without feeling heavy inside. But not wanting to let this chance go to waste, he pulled himself together and forced himself to the top of the porch. Thank goodness the black railing is there, so it can be easier for him to go up. He gripped the steel black railing with his left hand as tight as he could, and pulled himself to the top of the porch. Like a climber scaling Mt. Everest, he finally made it to the top. He wasn't out of breath, but he felt very tired, like he ran a marathon. But he managed to overcome one hurdle. There was now another one.

The officer is now standing before the weirdly pristine front door. He couldn't believe how clean it looked. The family living here must have gone through that door about a thousand times in their lifetimes. How can it still look new? But he shook his head vigorously. He didn't want to spend his day looking at some door. If they found him standing outside for hours on end, they may think he's some kind of stalker. He's only been there a few measly minutes, but still. With a hesitant gulp, he outstretched one of his arms, opened one of his hands, and tried to press the door bell. But the monsters that are fear and trepidation swallowed him with their mighty gulps again, freezing him in place like a mannequin. He tried to move, but his body was frozen again, his feet superglued to the porch.

Somber, abject thoughts raced through his mind like race cars going 120 miles per hour in some race like the Indy 500: How would he be received? Would they welcome him or push him away? Or would they just not answer at all? He assumed the second scenario would be the most likely, since that's what he's been used to for the past few months. Would they let him talk to them and explain his actions, or would they just kick him out and act like they know him better than he himself does? Would they even talk to him at all? Would they be sad? Would they be mad? Would they accept whatever he has to say or outright reject it, like everyone else has? He'd understand completely if they wanted nothing to do with him. They've gone through a lot and have suffered gravely.

He being the unintentional cause of it.

Finally shaking off his raging trepidation, he pressed his finger on the sticky door bell. _Riiing riiiiiing_, it resounded within the house like an echo. He could hear it from outside. It didn't take long for someone to answer the door. A couple seconds later, the door opened to reveal a woman in about her mid to late fifties, with poofy, curly black hair that didn't look very graceful or elegant, but neither looked like they cared. Her maroon eyes looked as though they were donning black attire fit for a funeral, as they were literally filled to the brim with nothing but dejection and grief, with absolutely no trace of joy or warmth whatsoever, not that he could blame her for this. Bags hung from underneath her abject eyes like sagging skin. She looked as though she hadn't slept in weeks. She's wearing nothing but a plain blue sweater, brown jean pants, peach slippers with little snow covered Christmas trees embroidered on them. As soon as she saw the man, her somber eyes suddenly widened, and she covered her mouth like she was trying to stop herself from screaming.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, which made Toyoki don an expression belonging to that of a sad puppy sitting in a cardboard box on a rainy day and having rocks thrown at it.

"I...I'm sorry…" He croaked shyly, losing his nerve. "I...I...I'm not trying to intrude. I just want to-"

"Come on in," The woman said, calming down and gesturing for him to come inside. Toyoki couldn't believe his luck. She's actually inviting him inside? Without a second thought? Reluctantly, he went inside like she wanted. Sure, it's normal for people to invite people inside their homes if they come by, but he didn't think politeness mattered in circumstances like these.

Quietly, both of them sat down on different sides of the Sogabe dining room table. Not one word was exchanged between them. An awkward silence consumed both of them like a butterfly sucking the sweet nectar right out of a floor. Neither knew what to say to the other. Their mouths were superglued shut, unable to be open and unable to shoot any words out on either side, like someone was putting locks on their mouths and throats so they wouldn't. Toyoki couldn't blame her for being silent. Her child is dead, and having his killer suddenly arrive at her house unannounced must be really nerve wracking. In some way, he wished she would just tell him how she feels and kick him out, since he caused her and her family so much suffering, not that he meant to. He almost found it a crime to even open his mouth. Anything he said or might say might either be outright ignored or twisted around so people could act like they know him better than he does himself or just not listen so they can jump to their own untrue conclusions about him. It's always been that way for the past few months. Why won't she snap at him? Her son is dead. Maybe all she wants is closure? To move on? Neither dared to look each other in the eye, either. They just stared down at their fists. For a good five minutes until Mrs. Sogabe finally pried her mouth open.

"Would you...would you like some tea?" Mrs. Sogabe muttered shyly and fearfully, like a fear consumed transfer student starting at a new school.

Toyoki shook his head. "No thank you. I didn't come here...for hospitality," He finally managed to croak out. He couldn't help but think he sounded like a frog when he said that in his hoarse voice. Finally, he found his mouth to be a bit more relaxed, so he decided to take the liberty to speak. "You're wondering...why I'm here, aren't I?"

Mrs. Sogabe said nothing. The silence gave him the answer he expected, not surprisingly to him.

"It's been six months. It feels like it happened just yesterday, didn't it?"

Mrs. Sogabe nodded. "How's your family?" She finally asked in a voice just as hoarse as his.

He shook his head grimly. "They want nothing to do with me. My wife gets harassed at work every day, my kids get beat up at school...and they take it all out on me. I don't blame them. I deserve it."

Mrs. Sogabe's eyes widened somewhat. She couldn't believe how humble this man is being. Everyone who knew about the incident made him out to be some kind of malicious, heartless, vainglorious monster who killed her son for kicks and giggles, nothing more. He looked so sad, so outright dejected, like a little puppy that was being kicked around every day. This man couldn't be the same man who killed her son. Soon, she noticed his eyes watering. The man is clearly trying to hold back tears, and not doing a very good job of it at that.

"Sogabe-san...I...I came here to tell you how sorry I am...for causing you so much suffering...and for killing your son," Toyoki choked out sadly. He rummaged through his jacket and pulled something out. Mrs. Sogabe's eyes widened when she saw what it was he pulled out: his school ID.

"He had this in his hand when...I shot him…" Toyoki muttered sadly. Mrs. Sogabe, shocked, took the school ID from his hand and cupped it in her own, trembling ones, her long, perfectly done fingernails scratching the hard surface of the ID card.

"This is Kirito's...he freaked out when he found it was missing. He said he needed it to go on a field trip with his club, and...he went to get it…" Mrs. Sogabe exclaimed sadly, holding it to her chest. "Tell me what happened, officer. I want to know the truth. I need some closure. Bad."

"I know. That's why I came. To tell you the truth," Toyoki muttered, trying desperately to hold back tears. But the waterworks were literally begging to come out. "I...I was off duty, but...there had been reports of burglaries in the neighborhood," He began sadly. "I got a call saying one of the burglars was around, so...I went to patrol the area. That's when I saw him in front of the library. It was closed. He looked like he wanted to go in. I...I mistook him for a burglar. I shouted at him but he ran...that's when...I did it…" The more he talked, the more the tears flowed, dropping onto his pants, leaving little dark spots on them. "When I looked closer, I found that he...didn't look like one of the burglars after all...his ID fell out of his hand when I moved his arm."

Even Mrs. Sogabe couldn't help but silently shed tears when she heard the sad tale. She wiped them with her arm, but they still came. Toyoki didn't bother to wipe them away at all. He just let them flow like waterfalls. "I'm so sorry, Sogabe-san...I'm so so so sorry...if...if I could turn back time and stop myself and make sure it never happened, I...I most certainly would...I'm sorry I mistook him for a bad person and killed him. I...I...I never...meant to...hurt you or him…you have every right to hate me. I deserve it. All of it. I don't deserve any kindness…I never wanted to make you and your family suffer…"

Silently, Mrs. Sogabe left the dining room table. But she just walked past the counter and stood in front of the stove, looking down at it like it was never there before. But she was only lost in thought, wiping the tears from her face. Soon, she turned around and returned to the table, this time, oddly enough, with a smile on her face.

"Thank you...for telling me the truth," Mrs. Sogabe said.

"I...I wanted to tell you all of this sooner. Especially during trial, but my lawyers wouldn't let me. That made me madder than anything," Toyoki piped in sadly.

"I don't blame you," Mrs. Sogabe mused. Hearing this made Toyoki's eyes literally shoot open and look at the sleepless, languid, ragged woman.

"You...you don't!? But you should! It's my fault he died! You're suffering because of me!" Toyoki suddenly shouted, standing up from his chair abruptly. But Mrs. Sogabe was unfazed, much to his surprise.

"I've always known that you're a good man in your own way. If you weren't, then you wouldn't be a police officer. Only good people work for the law. I've always believed it was an accident and nothing more. My husband and everyone else doesn't think so. I think it's stupid that they have to go and demonize you and act like you're some monster who killed him on purpose when you didn't. They weren't there. How can they stand around and act like they know what really happened? That's what I don't like. People these days need to get the facts straight before jumping to conclusions about people they don't know. That's why the world we live in is so bad," Mrs. Sogabe told him as calmly and lucidly as she could despite the tears pouring out of her eyes and streaming down her own face. "But...to be honest, I want to hate you. But I don't hate you. I never have, and I never will. I'm sure Kirito understands you never meant to hurt him or us. I've seen you get yelled at and attacked all the time. You never fought back or talked back at all. You never justified your actions, nor did you blame someone else. You never acted like some overexposed celebrity or some snotty glory hog. Just the fact that you just sit there and take all the abuse everyone throws at you shows what kind of a person you really are."

That's when the tears really started to flow. He couldn't stop them now, nor did he have any intention of doing so. He didn't want pity. He didn't want sympathy at all. It wasn't like he considered himself worthy of deserving it anyway. "Thank you...for at least...understanding me. You don't have to forgive me...if you don't want to. I don't deserve any forgiveness. I never intended on asking for it anyway. I just...wanted you to know the whole truth. I figured you wanted some closure...some explanation for why it happened..."

"Yes. I know, sir-" Mrs. Sogabe told him with a gentle smile. Unfortunately, that smile was instantly wiped off her face as soon as the door opened. She turned around to find herself shocked and surprised to find who it was that came in: a man in his late fifties, with a black mustache, a little black beard, short, black hair hidden by a brown and black fedora. He's also wearing a brown work suit, brown pants, black leather shoes, and a black bow tie.

"You're home early," Mrs. Sogabe told him.

"Fumiko?! What in thunderation is _he_ doing here?!" The man suddenly shouted, his shocked look morphing instantly into all out anger and rancor within milliseconds. He unabashedly pointed at the bewildered police officer in his anger.

"Naoki! Don't get any ideas. He just-" Mrs. Sogabe tried to calm him down and talk to him in a calm way, but he was just not having it.

"You sure have some nerve coming here after what you did! Get out!" The man, Naoki, shouted angrily as he literally grabbed the man by the arm with great force, dragged him through the house, and threw him out the door like he was a trash bag that had been sitting around on his front porch for weeks.

"Get out! Get out and never come back, you monster! You've made us suffer enough as it is! Do you want to ruin our lives some more?!" Naoki yelled.

"Naoki! Please! Calm down!" Fumiko, his wife, tried to calm him down, but he didn't even notice she was there. He clearly didn't hear her. His anger made him deaf to her pleas.

"Sogabe-san! I-" Toyoki himself even tried to interject, but the inhumanly choleric man cut him off.

"You're a demon! You killed my son on purpose! I know you did! What's it gonna take for you to admit it?! I'll bet seeing us suffer must be REAL satisfying to you! Well, tough nuts, you heartless monster! Do you go around killing innocent kids for a living?! Making poor families like us suffer just so you can feel good about yourself?! Wipe that smug off your face! My son had everything going for him, but you took it all away! You oughta be made to suffer! Now get out! You don't even deserve to breathe, you monster!" He screamed vehemently, not paying attention at all, not listening, not being willing to stop, or anything at all. "How are you going to take responsibility for this?! Or do you just want to blame it on somebody else and act like you're better than everybody?! Bring my child back, you beast! You devil!"

Boy, is he different from his wife. It's understandable, really. How can a parent whose child has been killed be rational? But that wasn't what bothered Toyoki. Naoki is calling him a monster, a demon, heartless, accusing him of killing Kirito on purpose, that he did it to make them suffer, to feel good, to feel satisfaction. Why is he doing that? Why is he acting like he knows everything about this bewildered and heartbroken police officer when he really doesn't? Is it the press? The media? The protesters? He was at the trial, and he was also one of the protestors. But still...it was an accident. Toyoki never meant to kill Kirito.

Why is everyone acting like it was on purpose?

Why are they demonizing him?

What gave them the right to talk and act like they know what he's really like when they don't?

"STOP! STOP IT!" Finally, unable to take it anymore, Fumiko finally screamed and leaped in between the bewildered police officer and her beet red angry husband, whose mind was completely consumed with nothing but wanting to beat the living life out of the bewildered officer. "Naoki! Stop! Just stop! Stop and listen for once! He never meant to kill Kirito! It was an accident!"

"No it wasn't! He did it for kicks! That's why we have to suffer like this!" Naoki snapped, not intent on bending to his wife's pleas. "It's his fault Kirito is gone!"

"Stop acting like a fool, Nao! Would Kirito want you doing this?!"

"Don't you tell me what my son would want! You don't know what my son wants, you idiot!" He screamed back hysterically, wagging his extended index finger at her face, not wanting to abdicate, which finally pushed his grieving wife to the edge.

"YOU'RE the idiot!" She shouted, her beet red face, wet with tears, flaming up, her bloodshot eyes donning a ferocious gleam. "Quit acting like you're the only one who's suffering! I'm upset too, y'know?! And he is too! Uomisaki isn't some psycho serial killer or sociopath! Stop acting like you know everything about him when you don't! The press is stupid! This whole thing is stupid!"

Not wanting to get in the way of their squabble, Toyoki finally decided to do what Naoki violently asked him to and ran like a cheetah.

He wasn't sure how far he ran nor for how long. All he knew was that it wouldn't have done him any good to stay at that house, especially with Naoki being hysterical and unwilling to listen to a word he, or anyone, said to him. Seeing that his police car is nearby, he ambled over to it, opened the driver seat door, got in, closed the door, started the car, and slowly drove away. At least being in his car protected him from anything that was outside and muffled any noise. There wasn't any noise as he could hear. He stayed on the road for a couple minutes until he arrived in front of a cobalt blue house. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, small cracking sounds smacked at two of his car windows. He turned to find splattered egg yolk dripping all over his windows, along with some pieces of white egg shells. Behind the yolk, he could see some kids running away. He got out of the car and walked up to his house...only to find that the windows also have egg yolk splattered on them from head to toe, along with his walls being spray painted.

The spray paint was literally all over his house. His door, windows, even his porch was covered in it. The spray paint was crude and dripping, not elegant and refined like other spray paint graffiti he saw on murals, in a myriad of colors, like black, green, red, orange, and yellow. Whoever spray painted his house wrote things like _"MURDERER!" "GO DIE!" "GO TO HADES!" "YOU KILLED KIRITO!" "YOU MONSTER!" "GO KILL YOURSELF!" "YOU DESERVE TO ROT IN JAIL FOREVER!"_ _"THE POLICE ARE A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES!"_ and other obscenities and profanities that he really didn't want to repeat. Once he got to the door, he felt some blows to his back. He turned around to find more cracked egg shells on the floor, and yolk on the back of his uniform. The kids from before returned and are on his front lawn, shouting profanities at him while another kid spray painted his car. Not wanting to pay any attention to them, he went inside.

"No! No! Please, stop calling our house! Yrrrrgh!" A hysterical woman's voice screeched from the other room. It's a choleric blonde woman on the phone. With a vociferous, piercing screech, she slammed the phone onto the wall, causing a big, cracked hole to appear on its white surface. Toyoki flinched when the phone made the strong thud against the wall and fell helplessly on the floor like a rag doll. Then, angrily, she yanked the phone's cord out of the outlet. The woman is frazzled, her hair is dingy and scraggly, like she hadn't brushed it in days. Her brown eyes have bags under them, and are bloodshot, like she hadn't slept in weeks.

"I'm back, honey," Toyoki said to the perturbed woman, his wife.

"God, I can't take this anymore! All we ever get now are threatening phone calls and idiots throwing eggs at our house and spray painting and God knows what the heck else! Toyoki!" She pointed at her bewildered husband with the phone she just threw at the wall, which now has a ghastly white mark on the bottom of it. "Order some pizza for us tonight!"

'_Nice to see you too, honey. How was your day?'_ Toyoki asked silently. But then again, he couldn't blame her for being like this.

"ACK! Takashi! Mom said you can't climb the bookshelf! Eeek!" A young, teenage boy's voice yelled, followed by the thuds of what appear to be books falling on the floor. Toyoki and his wife ran into the other room to find a boy of about seventeen holding a little three year old boy in a weird way, with a shelf on him and many books scattered all around. The little baby suddenly began screaming.

"YOU'RE MEEEEAN!" The toddler wailed hysterically as Toyoki ran to push the giant book shelf back to its original place.

"God, can't ANYTHING go right for once?!" The boy exclaimed as he handed the crying baby to a frazzled Toyoki without a second thought, looking just as perturbed as his mother. Toyoki began helplessly bouncing the wailing toddler in his arms, not quite sure what to do in this discord-ridden house. The boy slumped onto a couch, the wife went to her room, and Toyoki, already exhausted, put the wailing baby in the high chair. He grabbed a can of baby food, opened it, got a little spoon, scooped up some food, and tried to give some to the wailing toddler.

"Hey, Takashi! Here comes the plane! Reeeeee," Toyoki, with a very forced smile, tried to pretend the baby food covered spoon was a plane, flying it around in his hand. But when he tried to spoon it into his son's mouth, the grumpy and cranky Takashi knocked the spoon out of his hand and made it fall right on the frazzled man's face. He then proceeded to throw the entire can of baby food all over the high chair, making it a big puddle of orange colored goo. Toyoki grabbed Takashi's chubby arms to keep him from making more of a mess, but the messy, orange mush colored toddler cried again, wriggled one of his arms out, and threw more mush at Toyoki's face. Like getting hit with egg yolk wasn't enough.

"Uuuugh! You can't even take care of the freakin' baby, you're so stupid!" Toyoki's wife grunted as she pushed her frazzled husband away, took the wailing Takashi out of the high chair, and bounced him. "Oh great! More messes for me to clean up! Just when I think things can't get any worse! Can you _at least_ get Ryota to do his homework?! All he does is listen to that heavy metal garbage!" She yelled as she walked into another room with the still wailing baby.

Toyoki sighed. Sweat began to bead his already wrinkled, exhausted face. Can this day get any worse? Not wanting to make his wife more angry, even though she'll probably get angry again anyway, not that he can blame her, he went into the living room, books still scattered on the floor, and the boy from before, Ryota, slumped on the couch. "Hi, Ryota. How was school?"

"Mind your own business, old man!" Ryota snapped angrily and petulantly as he searched through his I-Pod, without his earbuds in his ears.

'_That's no way to talk to your father, young man!'_ Toyoki really wanted to scold his son, but his throat closed up for some reason. He couldn't get the words to come out. But his throat cleared when he noticed something very unsettling on his son's face. His right eye is swollen, bloated, and purple like an eggplant, just like the bruise on his own chin. As tired as he was, concern and worry began to consume him. "Did someone punch you in the face?"

Ryota ignored him.

"Ryota! If someone's picking on you at school, you have to tell me about it!"

"What difference does it make?! It's your fault everybody hates me! All 'cause you had to go and kill somebody! Why'd you have to ruin everything for us?! Huh?!" Ryota shouted, standing up from the couch and looking his flummoxed and exhausted father in the eye. "Worse stuff has happened to me than this, Dad! I lost all my friends, I get stuff thrown at me every day, and kids beat me up all the time! My girlfriend even broke up with me! Wanna know what she said?! _'I don't want to date somebody who's related to a murderer! How do I know you're not gonna be just like him?'_ I tried to tell her it was an accident, but did she and everyone else listen?! Noooo! My life is ruined and you don't even care!"

"You think I don't CARE?!" Toyoki shouted back. "How do you think I feel about this, Ryo?! I never wanted any of this to happen! I never knew the kid I shot was an innocent! You're right! I can't tell innocent people from criminals! I get that! I get that I killed a kid, and I get that I caused you all a lot of suffering, and I'm sorry! If I could stop myself from doing it, I would! I wish I could fix everything!"

"Well, you can't, now can you!? Everybody hates us because of you, and they'll hate us forever and ever and ever, and there's nothing we can do to stop it! I can't even have a normal school life anymore! Did you even think about that when you shot that kid?! I bet not! You were too busy thinking you had a criminal in your midst! It's because you're so freaking stupid that everything's gone to spit!"

"How was I supposed to know he wasn't a criminal?! I wasn't even supposed to be near that library! I wasn't even stationed there! I was told to go back to the station but...I stayed because I wanted to catch those burglars…I should have...gone back…" Now Toyoki was losing his nerve.

"You should have thought of that before you shot that kid!" Ryota snapped back. "Why don't you go kill yourself already? I can't even stand looking at you, you murderer."

With that, Ryota left, leaving a broken Toyoki in the living room, surrounded by books lying on the shag carpet. His wife screeched in another room, followed by a resounding slap, and Takashi's piercing wails. "I TOLD YOU TO STOP!" She yelled as the baby wailed some more. He forced himself to walk into the dining room, where lots of letters piled up on the dining room table, all of them containing threats and insults. All at him. Telling him to go to jail, go die, go kill himself, to pay for killing Kirito, calling him a monster.

His wife is angry at him and taking more of it out on their baby. His oldest son has literally cut him out of his life. He's lost all the dignity he had. All because everyone thinks he killed Kirito in cold blood. For kicks.

Why couldn't everything just end?

In tears, Toyoki finally ran out of his house as fast as he could, just like how he ran from the Sogabe house just a few minutes before. All he wanted to do was run away. Run from the hatred, the stress, the discrimination, the false claims, the truth. Everything. He took responsibility for Kirito's death. He admitted it. Shouldn't that have been enough? Why won't everything stop? Why are these people so jingoistically Hades-bent on branding him as a monster, accusing him of killing Kirito for kicks and giggles when it was clearly an unfortunate accident and nothing more? And why take it out on his family, too? They didn't do anything wrong. Don't make them suffer for something that wasn't their fault. Kirito's murder was Toyoki's fault, and he wanted the hatred to just be at him, not at the rest of his family. But no, a mistake like this would never be forgotten by anyone. They would only remember him as the man who killed Kirito, not as a man who followed the law, did his best, made a grave mistake, and took responsibility for it in whatever way possible. They didn't care if he took responsibility for it. They'll call him a monster forever.

He tripped on a rock in the street and fell flat on his face. He didn't bother to pull himself up. He decided to just lay there on the gravel, letting his tears fall on the concrete. He didn't care anymore. Why couldn't he just die already? It's what everybody wants? Why won't it happen? "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I...I didn't mean to cause all of this pain...but why won't they listen to me?!" He wailed and sobbed like Takashi. But Takashi is a toddler, Toyoki is an old man.

Why won't anyone listen to the truth?

* * *

"I'm back, Mom. I got the milk," Marina said as she came through the door of her house. The grey kitten she rescued, Fern, mewed happily, welcoming her back. The happy little kitten decided to rub itself against Marina's boots, causing the orange haired girl to smile sweetly.

"Hi, Fern," Marina replied.

"Hi, Mari," Marina's mother came into the living room, took the dollar store bag from her, took the milk out, and put it into the refrigerator. "I see you finished your homework early."

"Yeah. Figured I'd get it done and over with," Marina mused as she picked up an old-fashioned beige guitar from the living room.

Marina's mother smiled. "Your teachers told me you're doing so much better now, and it's only been the first week. I'm so proud of you," She said. Marina looked away from her to focus on her guitar. "I'll start dinner in a little bit. I'm making your favorite: shrimp, Spanish rice, and mandarin oranges. How's that?"

"Thanks, Mom," Marina said with a shy, sheepish smile as she walked into her room.

Her room isn't much to write home about. Her walls are plain and white, with a few of them donning rock and roll posters with artists like Michael Jackson, N'Sync, The Blue Hearts, Kiss, The Beatles, Ozzy Osbourne, and others. She has a mahogany desk in her room with a shiny white laptop on it, some school books, some CDs, a black I-Pod with blue, ladybug themed ear buds attached to it, some mangas, multicolored mechanical pencils, some game consoles like a crimson red Nintendo 3DS, some games, and lots of guitar picks. Her bed has a white bed spread on it with lots of multicolored circles on it in colors like red, blue, green, yellow, and grey, with matching pillow cases. On both sides of her windows are orangish yellow curtains that have cross hatching patterns embroidered on them. Sitting underneath that is a set of bongos that are very worn, with some marks and scratches on them. Across from her bed is her closet, full of clothes, and next to it is a black bureau with white stripes on it, making it look like a zebra, full of more clothes. There's a white and orange lamp on it, a little orange and white jewelry box, a piggy bank shaped like a blue and purple fish, and some little rocks with messages branded into them, like _"Hope,"_ _"Friendship,"_ and _"Love."_ There are also a lot of notebooks with scribbles on them. They didn't look like notebooks she used for school.

Marina flopped onto her bed, pulled out an orange guitar pick, and began to gently strum at her guitar. A soft rhythm flowed from the strings and into the halcyon atmosphere of her room. She bobbed her head at the swerving melody, allowing the rhythm to consume her mind and force the worries out of her brain. The smile she donned was quite a bright and blazing one, not something anyone ever saw on a face like hers before. Her wavy, curling orange hair bounced up and down with the bobbing of Marina's head. Soon, Marina found herself singing.

"_They say big things come in small packages,_

_And they're right, because I opened one,_

_And a miracle popped right out,_

_Like the sun during a stormy night._

_I never thought I'd see the day,_

_When someone finally saw me for me,_

_Finally seeing past the things that made me ugly,_

_The things people only see, what they choose to see._

_I didn't choose to be his daughter,_

_I don't want to be anything like him,_

_But they all think I'll be like him anyway,_

_Committing crimes and making people miserable,_

_Because that's what he does._

_They all hate me because of him,_

_They don't see me as a person, only his clone._

_But she did, she did and didn't think twice_

_About being nice to me when I needed it the most."_

She suddenly stopped singing when an image of Riko appeared in her head. The time when Riko saw her with Fern for the first time popped in her mind like a jack-in-a-box. Marina was flabbergasted at her appearance back then at first. She thought Riko was going to have her dad call her out on what she did, though Marina was willing to accept whatever punishment they'd heap on her anyway. But to her surprise, Riko wasn't mad at her or calling her names or anything she expected. Even more surprising, she never mentioned her (Marina's) father. It didn't look like she even knew anything about him, though she did tell her about him in the end. All her dad did was gently press her on why she picked on people, and Riko just talked about her cats. Marina never had something like that happen to her before, and she never thought she'd ever be able to receive kindness from anyone outside of her mother, because hatred and prejudice was all she was ever used to.

She's not used to having people be nice to her. A warm feeling creeped into her chest like a non-poisonous snake. She stopped strumming her guitar and put the guitar pick on her bed. She remembered Zenjin attacking her, and before losing conscious, she heard Riko shout and ram into Zenjin, forcing him off of her. Then, when she woke up, she was appalled to see Cure Twilight or whoever that purple cat-like superhero was who saved her be yelled at by the citizens just because of some wanton destruction that was in a way inevitable. The purple cat girl's anguish and the sad, scared, mortally frightened look on her pale, round face reminded her of Riko somewhat. It was just like the scared look Riko had when she walked into homeroom for the very first time this past Monday.

Marina couldn't deny it. Riko's nothing like the people she had to deal with throughout the majority of her life.

"_Get away from us, you wannabe criminal!"_

"_No way! We don't take criminals in our clique!"_

"_Why should we hang out with somebody who's related to a criminal?"_

"_They say children are born as they were raised. How do we know you're not going to act just like him when you get older?"_

"_I hear she's the daughter of a gang-banger. Do you think she secretly deals drugs too?"_

"_She's the meanest girl around! Rumor has it she's in a gang! You'd better steer clear of that orange headed bully!"_

"_We don't want to hang out with you. You're Asagi Shouji's daughter. Everybody knows he's bad news, so that makes you bad news too!"_

"_She gives some pretty good punches. Some kid got a black eye just from talking to her."_

Marina even remembered the deep, cold, bottomless pit of despair she fell into when she discovered the ugly truth. _"Why does everyone think I'm bad?"_ She asked tearfully back in those days, when kids yelled at her or ignored her in the 5th and 6th grades.

"_Because you are! Duh!"_

"_Yeah! It runs in your family!"_

She couldn't stand the preconceived notion everyone had about her: because she's the daughter of a criminal, she's going to automatically be just like him no matter what. Who decided that? And who gave them the right to do so? Nobody knew her. Nobody but Marina herself. Why would they act like they knew what she'd grow up to be when they don't even know her at all? She assumed her family background gave them pretext to pick on her and make themselves feel good. She never said anything bad to them unless they deserved it, so why would they say those things about her when she's made it very clear that she wants absolutely nothing to do with her deadbeat dad? It made her both frustratingly sad and internally sick to even try to comprehend their thick-headedness and complete stupidity. What twisted things are people teaching their kids these days? People don't know anything.

Riko didn't act like them. The only reason Riko was mad at her was because she saw her picking on Kyoya, and felt the need to call her out on it, which Marina couldn't deny she did deserve, because everybody knows it's wrong to pick on a disabled person. But Riko never mentioned her father, nor did she act like she knew her or her deadbeat dad. Marina couldn't believe she finally met someone who treats her like a human being. This was what made Marina feel bad about it later and apologize the next day. She never apologized to people she picked on, because they always picked on her due to their preconceived notions. Not only that, Riko didn't talk her down when she stood up for the police officer before. They just had a simple conversation. Riko was even happy when she found out Marina agreed with her upon Yoshie getting called out on for breaking the school's dress code and how people shouldn't dress promiscuously. Nobody's ever agreed with her before. A different kind of smile painted itself onto Marina's canvas of a face, complete with the warmth that creeped into her heart.

For the first time ever, she found she couldn't wait for school to come.

* * *

Riko basically spent the entire weekend playing with Moonbeam and Sunbeam, who still sometimes went out to find their remaining sister. Riko enjoyed every minute she spent with those fairies. She played with them, read to them, watched anime with them, played games with them, gave them whatever food they could eat, told them stories she made up (namely Twilight Cat ones), and taught them whatever she could. Riko could herself being enveloped by a very warm and loving glow she never experienced before when she was around them. It was the same as when she began hanging out with Anzu and Kyoya. She couldn't believe that she finally made friends for the very first time ever, both human and non-human, and she couldn't be happier. When everyone was away, Riko even played outside with them, and even the fairies couldn't help but enjoy Riko's company, charmed by her sweet nature, her compassionate heart, her occasional eccentricities, the cute way she dressed herself up in cat eared hats and fuzzy tails and pretended she was Twilight Cat and how into it she acted, her innocent, childlike mind, her wish to make them happy by any means necessary, and the fact that she practically accepted them without question or even a second thought. Normal people would likely be scared out of their wits if they saw them. Riko just accepted them into her life and didn't look back. The radiant look she exuded with her wide eyes and bright smile, which practically nobody ever saw, only cemented this fact.

However, Moonbeam and Sunbeam also noticed some rather odd things about Riko. Nothing bad, just rather peculiar and unusual, not enough to make them change their mind about her. True, Riko has been unquestionably kind to them. But they noticed that Riko often displayed some odd mannerisms at times, like flapping her hands up and down like flippers, rocking back and forth a little bit, swaying back and forth when standing for a long period of time, the fact that she often can't seem to come up with the right words when making a sentence, getting fixated on an idea for a long time until she's satisfied, among other things. But the thing they noticed the most, something Kyoya noticed, was that she practically never looks anyone in the eye, even the fairies. They didn't see these habits as bad, just a little odd. But they couldn't help but be curious as to why she acts the way she does. For now, they decided not to ask about it. They were afraid they might push the wrong buttons and ruin their newly cultivated friendship. They did, however, notice that Rina, Riko's little sister, is quite mean to her, constantly pushing her buttons and yelling at her over little things, like her play acting or the way she holds her eating utensils or the way she talks and anything else Riko does. This, they found very unsettling. Riko did tell them about it beforehand, and she's definitely right about the little seven-year-old berating her for everything she does, acting like she's better than her older sister.

After a halcyon and happy weekend, Riko went back to school. But instead of dreading it entirely, Riko finally found something to look forward to: hanging out with Anzu and Kyoya. But friends don't always hang out at school, do they? Hikage always had friends over back at their previous town, and Riko couldn't help but envy him in that aspect. Perhaps she could invite Anzu or Kyoya over some day. Coincidentally enough, Anzu wound up bringing up the subject at recess that very Monday.

"Hey. Do you guys wanna hang out sometime? Outside of school, I mean," Anzu asked curiously with a Sailor Moon manga in one of her hands.

"I'd love that!" Kyoya exclaimed cheerfully. "But my parents work every day except on Wednesdays and Thursdays."

"My mom's off work on Thursdays!" Riko piped in. Then a light bulb lit up in her head, making her gasp with a face radiating joy. She clasped her hands together. "I know! You should come to my house!"

"That's a great idea," Kyoya said, eyeing Anzu.

"I second that," Anzu piped in.

"But I'll have to ask my parents first. Is that okay?" Riko told them.

"Sure," Kyoya and Anzu said in unison.

"Oh!" Riko suddenly exclaimed, then became a little downcast. "There's one problem though. My room's upstairs, the cars aren't big enough, and we have no ramps, so my house isn't...wheelchair accessible."

"So? Mine isn't either," Kyoya replied.

"Wait. What?" Riko and Anzu both asked in perfect unison, confused.

"Yours isn't?" Riko asked.

"Yeah. I've only been in this thing for a year and a half. My room's upstairs, too. But I can crawl now, so I know how to get around," Kyoya told them with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Ri-chan. I'm not as paralyzed as I was before."

"Alright. But I still have to ask my parents if they'll let you come or not. Here, I'll write down my home address and phone number to you too," Riko said as she pulled out a piece of paper and pencil from her book bag, wrote something down, tore the paper in half, and gave each half to Kyoya and Anzu.

"Can I borrow that pencil real quick?" Kyoya asked. Riko nodded and handed it to him as he pulled a paper out of his own bag. He wrote something down, tore the paper into two pieces, and handed both of them to Riko and Anzu. "There's my address and phone number, so you can call me the minute you get an answer."

"Here's mine. I wrote them down at lunch," Anzu said as she handed them two crumpled pieces of paper of her own.

"Thanks, An-chan!" Riko said, her eyes and smile full of gratitude. "I've never had friends over before. I always used to get mad at my big brother for always having friends over. Sometimes I asked myself, _'Why does he have friends and not me?'_ and Rina would always say, _'Because he's normal and you're not! You'll never have any friends because you're weird and stupid'_ and that always made me angry," Riko explained.

"I'd love to smack that sister of yours," Kyoya piped in.

Riko was going to say something until she saw Marina a little ways away, leaning against the fence, lost in thought. Then another idea popped into her head. "Ooooh!" She mused and suddenly dashed off.

"Hey! Where ya going?" Anzu asked. Their eyes widened when they saw Riko approach Marina rather cheerfully.

"Hey, Asagi-san!"

"Whoa!" Marina yelped, surprised by Riko's unprecedented appearance. "You scared me! Jeez!"

"Sorry. Didn't mean to. Anyway...are you free this Thursday?" Riko apologized.

"I don't do much every day, so yeah. Why?" Marina asked, confused.

"Would you like to...come over my house and hang out?" Riko asked as she rummaged through her pocket to get some more paper. She pulled it out and wrote down her address, completely oblivious to Marina's flabbergasted expression.

"Uh…" Marina was speechless. Riko's actually inviting her to her house? Even after calling her names and pushing her to the concrete on the first day? Was good luck finally shining on her at last?

"Here's my address. I still have to ask my parents first. If you don't want to, that's okay," Riko said.

"Um…" Marina stammered, finding her voice. "Why are you doing this? I mean...I was so cruel to you last week. Don't you hate me?"

"Not anymore, now that I know what you're really like," Riko replied.

"Umm...do you even know who my dad is at all?"

"No. Only that he's a criminal, and that's because I've heard it from everyone else, but that's about all I know."

'_She doesn't know about him?! Everybody knows about him! How come she doesn't?!'_ Marina thought, even more flabbergasted by Riko's innocent honesty and the fact that she knows next to nothing of her dad. Then again, she could think of some possibilities for her lack of knowledge: maybe she didn't see his crimes on the news, maybe she's too focused on her own problems to pay attention to stuff like that, or she simply just didn't hear about it, or even not interested in hearing about it. They were going to talk more until Riko's hypersensitive ears picked up on some gossip among the screams and shouts of the kids playing on the concrete. "Whoa. Tasogare's actually talking to Asagi. They're not in cahoots, are they?"

"Why is she talking to her? Asagi's mean, just like her criminal dad!"

"Asagi's obviously gonna be a criminal considering she's always mean to us."

"Is Tasogare really that stupid?"

"They're both cracked in the head!"

"And weird as heck, too."

"Meh. I ain't interested in either one, Tasogare especially. Didja know she makes weird noises to herself?"

"By the way," Marina piped in.

"Yeah?" Riko asked.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure. What?"

Marina wasn't sure if she could ask something like this. But she gathered her mettle and decided to cut to the chase. "Are you Cure Twilight?"

Riko couldn't help but let out a low but still high pitched screech. "EEEEK!"

"See? I told you," Some kid mused to his friend, pointing to Riko with his index finger unabashedly.

"How...how...how…" Riko stammered, unable to put words together.

"...do I know? You two have the same eyes, voice, skin color, and body type," Marina replied curtly. "It's okay. I'm not gonna tell anyone. I promise. I'm not that stupid."

Riko wanted to press her for more details, but the bell rang so they had to go back to class. Riko became anxious all throughout the rest of the school day, fearing the worst. Would Marina tell? Would everyone know about it and demonize her forever and ever, like before? Riko immediately began regretting her attempts to try and befriend her. However, she had to put her anxiety away when 7th period began.

Out of nowhere, when Mr. Amane was going over water's main properties, a kid sitting next to the window spotted something outside.

"Whoa! There's a fight going on outside!" The boy shouted, prompting all of the kids to flock to the window, much to Mr. Amane's chagrin.

But it wasn't a bunch of kids throwing fists at each other, as Riko saw. Rays of light were being shot from both sides. They came from a choleric Zenjin and a stoic looking Cure Starlight. Riko saw someone else caught in the crossfire. The police officer, Uomisaki Toyoki, who is very scared and frightened.

'_That's the police officer everybody hates!'_ Riko thought worriedly.

Suddenly, without warning, Zenjin shot a ray of light right at the window they're looking out of.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Mr. Amane screamed as loud as he could, prompting the kids to get the heck away from the window. But even though they moved away, the window and the wall surrounding it exploded. Smoke enveloped the classroom. Everyone who managed to get out of the explosion's way stayed down on the floor so as to not inhale the smoke. They rolled out of the classrooms like armadillos. When they got out, they stood back up and got away from the smoke. When there's smoke, stop, drop, and roll. Riko and some other kids did just that. It's a good thing teachers drilled that lesson into their heads. But as it dissipated, a scream could be heard.

"Amane-sensei! Fukiko's trapped in some debris!" Someone cried out, only slightly drowned out by the piercing cries of a girl trapped under some debris, right next to the big hole in the wall. Riko peered inside to find that the girl, Fukiko, is actually the girl who's been watching her and Kyoya, Dounowaki. But Fukiko's leg is trapped underneath some rubble, crying out.

"I can't get it out!" Fukiko yelled tearfully as she tried to pull the debris off of her leg, but it was just too heavy.

"Stay still, Dounowaki. Someone call 119! Get a teacher! Get someone! Now!" Mr. Amane yelled as he ran to Fukiko's side to try and pry the debris off of her leg.

"I'll do it!" One girl cried out. Riko, finding this to be the perfect opportunity to escape and help Cure Starlight, dashed after her.

Once she went into the hallway, she went in a different direction. She went into the bathroom, transformed, and like a cheetah, dashed out onto the front lawn and onto the street, where she found Toyoki strapped to a big wall, with his Soul Portal open and exposed, with Cure Starlight trying to fend off Zenjin with a big, blue naginata.

"Leave him alone! He doesn't need to be involved in this!" Cure Starlight sneered.

"Be quiet! I'm gonna look in his Soul Portal and you can't stop me!" Zenjin yelled as he tried to land a punch on her, but Starlight swerved the tip of her naginata upward to stop him from punching her.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Suddenly, a glowing purple ring hit Zenjin on the back, knocking him off of his feet and onto the concrete.

"OW! Hey, watch it, trash!" Zenjin yelled angrily as he felt his palms and knees rub against the concrete, feeling them get scraped.

"Cure Twilight! Thank goodness you're here!" Cure Starlight exclaimed with relief once Riko, now Cure Twilight, hopped onto the scene.

"You okay? You look like he got you pretty bad," Cure Twilight asked with concern in her voice and eyes, noticing some pretty nasty marks on parts of Starlight's body.

"It's nothing. We have to free Uomisaki-san quick!" Cure Starlight was about to free the man until a ray of light hit her on the back, knocking her off of her own feet.

"Starlight!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she managed to grab her friend by the arm and keep her from hitting the concrete. Unfortunately for her, Zenjin flew over to the man and peered into his Soul Portal quicker than she could react. The man screamed like he was in an unknown degree of excruciating pain. Cure Twilight, angered, decided to take things into her own hands.

"Get off of him!" Cure Twilight yelled as she leaped toward the floating boy and rammed him off of Toyoki, similar to how she did when he was attacking Marina. Unfortunately, he managed to yank out his soul. The wall Toyoki was strapped to disappeared and his vessel almost hit the concrete if Cure Starlight didn't save it from hitting it.

The cobalt blue orb immediately turned black as soon as it hit Zenjin's hand. "Pheh. He doesn't know either. Oh well. Go crazy, Human Trash!" Zenjin mused at first, then threw the glowing orb into the air, causing it to grow in size until it transformed into a huge, black, dog-like creature. It looked like a German Shepherd.

"Dawn Flame!" A golden flame suddenly shot at Zenjin out of nowhere. He looked up to find Anzu, now Cure Dawn, with her glowing yellow nunchucks in her hands, staring him down. "You're fighting me, bucko!"

"Cure Dawn!" Twilight exclaimed as she threw her glowing ring at the giant German Shepherd, but it managed to evade it. Teachers and children began evacuating the school rather erratically.

"I'll distract it from the front! You attack it from behind, and make sure it doesn't hurt anyone! Got it?!" Cure Starlight commanded like an elite military officer.

"You got it! Meow!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she jumped on the roof of the school, preparing for another attack. Starlight got her naginata out and began slashing the German Shepherd's legs in an attempt to render it motionless, so it at least wouldn't hurt anyone with those big claws it has.

"_I'm sorry!"_ The contorted voice of the German Shepherd-or Toyoki's-barked sadly as it tried to smack Cure Starlight away. As soon as she saw one of its front paws move, she leaped into the air and did a mid-air back flip to evade its attack, which proved to be successful.

"Cat Slash!" As soon as she saw the last of the students and faculty leave-Mr. Amane with a limp and unconscious Fukiko in his arms-she leaped off of the school roof, settled onto the German Shepherd's back, and gave it some big scratches, causing it to bark and begin flailing, trying to throw a bewildered Cure Twilight off of it. She held on as tight as she could. She tried to punch it, but it moved too much and too fast for her to hold onto its fur anymore, so she wound up sliding off like a piece of bacon, landing feet first onto the sidewalk.

"_I'm sorry! I'm sorry I killed that boy! I never meant for it to happen!"_ The German Shepherd howled as it tried to bite Cure Starlight, but in retaliation, she leaped in front of it and gave it a swift kick in the face. It wasn't enough to knock it unconscious though, so she and Cure Twilight delivered some strong punches instead. Those didn't work either, as the giant German Shepherd swerved its face around, throwing both Cures Starlight and Twilight onto the street. _"It's my fault! I get it! I deserve whatever punishment you give me! But...stop making it sound like I did it on purpose! It wasn't on purpose! I'm not a heartless monster!"_

"He sounds so sad…" Cure Twilight mused to herself sadly, her heart going out to Toyoki's corrupted soul.

On Cure Dawn's part of the conflict, she and Zenjin were mostly in a punching and kicking contest, trying to knock each other out, but neither side was successful. Punches and kicks flew at each other, not landing a single hit. Cure Dawn even tried hitting him with his nunchucks, but he managed to evade them despite their agility. When he found an opening in her stance, he snapped his fingers, and a black ray of light knocked Cure Dawn's nunchucks to the sidewalk. She grabbed them as soon as they fell, but she then noticed he was trying to flee the scene by flying away. With a great leap, she jumped into the sky like a bird ascending into the sky and grabbed Zenjin, successfully pulling him back to the ground. Zenjin struggled with all of his might, writhing and wriggling like a worm, trying to get out of her grasp, but Cure Dawn only tightened her grip, not wanting to let this silver haired scoundrel get away.

"Let me go, you trash!" Zenjin yelled vehemently as he kicked Cure Dawn in her legs. As painful as his crimson red boots felt, she tried to keep her composure and not cry out, as containing this crazy psychopath is more important.

"Not until you tell me what your deal is, bucko!" Cure Dawn told him sternly.

"My name's not bucko! It's Zenjin, you trash!" He snapped back.

"_If I could turn back time and stop myself from shooting him, I'd do it in a heartbeat!"_ The German Shepherd howled again as Cure Twilight slashed one of its ears.

"Starlight Shower!" A shower of glowing blue stars rained from the sky, falling onto the German Shepherd and keeping him from attacking.

"I gotta move his body!" Cure Twilight mused as she ran to Toyoki's vessel, picked it up, and tried to carry it to a safe place, but found it was too heavy for her to pull up until she noticed he got lighter. She turned around to find that someone is helping her. But it wasn't Cure Starlight or Cure Dawn. It wasn't even a fellow warrior helping her out.

"...Asagi?!" Cure Twilight yelped with surprise.

"Figured you'd need some help," Marina said as she held up another part of Toyoki's body. As confused as Twilight is, she knew she needed to get Toyoki's body out of danger. If it were destroyed, then saving his soul from corruption would be pointless, so they quietly moved him to the far side of the blacktop, far from the German Shepherd's line of sight. Cure Twilight was about to thank Marina until she realized that she's dashing right toward Zenjin and Cure Dawn, who are still fighting like cats and dogs.

"Dawn Burst!" With both sides of her nunchucks in both hands, glowing radiantly like the sun above, she slammed them into the concrete, causing a huge dome of light to appear and cover all sides within a 20 meter radius, causing Cure Starlight to stammer a little and Zenjin to be thrown at a big tree like a rag doll. But he got right back up as soon as he slumped onto the grass.

"I don't have time to deal with you pieces of trash! I have things to do!" Zenjin snapped angrily.

"We have things to do too, y'know! If you know what's good for you, turn the officer back to normal and turn yourself in! Now spill the beans! Why are you going around corrupting people's souls?!" Cure Dawn exclaimed, not showing any fear, surprisingly.

"I don't need to answer to you, trash!" Zenjin snapped.

"HEY!" Someone yelled. Cure Dawn and Zenjin both turned around to discover Marina only a few feet away from them, staring at the silver haired, red caped boy quite angrily. "You're that idiot who attacked me last week!"

"Oh great! Not you again!" Zenjin yelled as he shot a black ray of light at her, but she managed to leap out of the way and charge right at him.

"You're gonna pay for attacking me, bucko!" Marina yelled as she leaped onto Zenjin like a rabid cat trying to attack its enemy.

"Quit calling me bucko! It's NOT my name, you retard!" Zenjin snapped as he flailed his arms around, trying to pry the crazed, orange haired girl off of him.

"Asagi! Stop! He's too dangerous! Get off of him!" Cure Dawn tried to pry Marina off of him, but she quickly found out she didn't have to. Zenjin shot a ray of light at Marina, causing her to fly at Cure Dawn like a rocket. She did manage to catch the girl. To Zenjin's, and Cure Dawn's surprise, Marina isn't unconscious. In fact, she doesn't look like she was remotely fazed by his attack.

"You did this, didn't you?! You corrupted Uomisaki-san's soul! Why?! Are you really that heartless?!" Marina yelled vehemently as she stood up, prying Cure Dawn's hands off of her.

Cure Starlight and Cure Twilight both turned to look when they heard Marina's voice. Unfortunately, this allowed the giant German Shepherd to swat Cure Twilight like a housefly, sending her flying onto the blacktop. Cure Starlight tried to slash it with her naginata, but the German Shepherd swatted her away, too. Cure Twilight, despite being battered by the fall, saw Marina standing up to Zenjin and ran toward them.

"Asagi! You have to get away from him! He'll kill you!" Cure Twilight yelled, but Marina paid no heed.

"She's right! Let us handle this!" Cure Dawn tried to convince Marina to back down, but the orange haired girl's eyes were blazing with anger, and she didn't listen to the yellow warrior's pleas, or anyone's for that matter.

"You think everybody's a toy you can play with, don't you?! Using their sadness and suffering to make yourself feel strong...you're sick, y'know that?! This isn't some toy you can play with! That man you corrupted is someone who's suffering because he unknowingly made a mistake that cost him and other people dearly!" Marina yelled vehemently, remembering the day he yanked her soul out of her body without batting an eye, not caring for her welfare and what the consequences would be, not that she expected him to.

"That stupid man doesn't know the _meaning_ of the word suffering! None of you worthless idiots do! Only _I_ know suffering! My suffering is far greater than anyone else's will ever be! Do you wish to feel suffering?! Because I'll gladly make you writhe in pain, now that I have all the power in the world to do so!" Zenjin yelled back, his hand glowing in a black light.

"In your dreams, bub!" Marina snapped.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Cure Twilight tried to hit Zenjin with her glowing ring, but he evaded it, causing it to hit the police station across the street. Glass from a window broke, and some debris fell from one of the walls, hitting the floor.

"Ack! I didn't mean to do that!" Cure Twilight yelped ruefully.

Cure Dawn facepalmed. "Really?" She asked, exasperated by Riko's failed attempt at attacking Zenjin just now.

"Follow that Heart Lighter!" Cure Twilight recognized the voice. It belonged to Starbeam. She and everyone else looked up to find the three fairies-Moonbeam, Sunbeam, and Starbeam-following a glowing orange Heart Lighter with an orange flame on the top of it. The Heart Lighter, with a orange light inside it glowing like a radiant sunset, suddenly floated in front of Marina. This made everyone confused.

"No way! Is she…?" Cure Twilight yelped, surprised beyond her wildest dreams.

"Do I...open this?" Marina asked.

"Yeah! Hurry!" Cure Starlight yelled as she tried to slash the giant German Shepherd with her naginata again.

On impulse, Marina did as asked and pried the cap of the Heart Lighter open. The tips of the flame shaped cap dug into her palms, scratching them a bit, but Marina didn't quite care at this point. She was just confused and inundated by too much going on at once and with no idea why. Once she pulled off the cap, the orange light flew out. Marina grabbed it, and the light dissipated, revealing an orange, heart shaped jewel with a red flame in the middle of it. She also noticed the orange Heart Lighter has a hollow area in the middle, shaped like the heart, that wasn't there before.

"What the freak is going on?! What do I do with these?!" Marina asked, confused.

"Put the jewel in the cavity and shout, _'Pretty Cure! Let the light shine!'_ and it'll do the rest!" Cure Twilight shouted.

"Why?! What's gonna happen?!" Marina yelped before suddenly getting hit by a black ray of light shot by Zenjin. The Heart Lighter and the jewel are both safe in her hands.

"Oh, no you don't!" Sunbeam shouted as she and the fairies decided to do what Cure Dawn did and try their hardest to keep Zenjin from getting away.

"Come on, Asagi-san! Just do it! You have to!" Cure Twilight begged desperately.

"What if something goes wrong?!" Marina yelped fearfully.

"Just DO IT!"

"OKAY OKAY! FINE!"

All Marina wanted to do was make sense of all of this craziness and give Zenjin some well deserved comeuppance for attacking her last week. She wasn't sure how putting some jewel into a star shaped perfume bottle was going to help anything. But with nothing to lose, and fear consuming her from the inside and out, along with the courage she tried to muster, she put the jewel into the hollow area, allowing a tsunami of sunset orange light to consume her like a tsunami.

"Pretty Cure, let the light shine!" She shouted as she held the Heart Lighter in the air. The heart object dissolved into the perfume bottle, not only filling in the gap, but filling the bottle with a kind of translucent, mandarin orange liquid.

Marina spun around in circles and sprayed it all over herself. As soon as the perfume made contact with her normal clothes, they changed completely! Instead of her usual attire, she found herself donning a sleeveless pale orange and white shirt with little orange flames going down the chest part, along with some lacy, pointed white frills on each side of them, along with a pair of darker orange shorts. A large, dark orange ribbon appeared on her shirt with a shiny lighter orange flame decoration on it. The straps on her shirt are orange, just like her hair, and they looked like arm bands if her ribbon covered the angular piece of fabric connecting the straps on her shoulders and the straps around her upper arms. A small, pale orange, blanket-like cloth with darker orange pockets on each side wrapped around her waist, with the ends connected to the front by an orange flame-shaped, belt-like decoration. Fingerless, dark orange gloves appeared on both of her hands, but they went up to her forearms, and have red flames painted on the part of them that started from her upper arms. A little dark orange flame like jewel appeared underneath her right eye, like a beauty mark. Her boots are sunset orange, with red blazing flames painted on the bottom parts of them, with little white wings on each of them. The Heart Lighter dangled from her shorts like a little keychain. Soon, the light surrounding her dissipated, bringing her back to Earth.

"I am the light that will warm your heart, Cure Dusk!" Marina, announcing her fabulous entrance as Cure Dusk, struck a pose. But as soon as she finished, her previous confusion came back in full force. "Uhhh...what the heck am I supposed to be?"

"_Why does everyone think I killed him on purpose?! I didn't! Why don't they listen to me?!"_ Finally tired of being trapped, the giant German Shepherd finally decided to run from the school.

"No! Twilight Serenade!" Cure Twilight, aware of what could happen if that giant animal ran loose, shot a beam of light at it, managing to knock it down. Unfortunately for her, the black German Shepherd wound up falling on the blacktop, completely squishing a huge chunk of the metal fence flat like a pancake, just barely missing Toyoki's body.

If Toyoki's body got destroyed, his soul can't return to it.

"ACK! Oh no!" Cure Twilight screamed as she hopped toward the part of the blacktop where she placed Toyoki's body. _'Please be alright! Please be alright! Please be alright! PLEEEEASE BE ALRIGHT!'_ She screamed in her head, begging for his body to be safe and not destroyed. Much to her relief, the body has been spared, Soul Portal and all. She exhaled a huge sigh of relief.

"Dawn Flame!" Cure Dawn shot some golden flames at the German Shepherd, which made it howl in pain once they danced around it blazingly.

"Hey! Cure Dusk!" Starbeam exclaimed, which made Marina yelp.

"Yeek! What the heck are you?!" Cure Dusk yelped, surprised by the fact that there's a cute talking animal floating near her.

"No time to explain! Your weapon is in your pocket! You can use it to help the other Cures and purify the officer's soul!" Starbeam explained.

"Urrrgh! Fine! I'll just go along with it!" Cure Dusk grunted as she rummaged through her pockets and pulled something out, which turned into an orange bow and arrow.

Cure Dusk found herself smiling like she got tickets to a rock concert, her golden eyes developing a courageous, almost lion-like glint like she found a way to pounce on her prey. "Sweetness," Soon, when she set up her bow and arrow, the tip of the arrow suddenly lit itself ablaze with orange flames.

"Alrighty then! Show me what you can do! Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Cure Dusk edicted boldly as she let the arrow loose. The arrow plummeted straight into the fallen German Shepherd's abdomen, causing it to howl in pain. She turned to Starbeam. "Can I do anything besides use this stuff?"

"Yes. There's energy flowing in your bodies, and you can manipulate it to your will," Starbeam explained.

"Good! Because I seriously wanna let off some steam!" Cure Dusk exclaimed as she put her bow and arrow away and pumped her fists. Suddenly, they glowed in a blazing orange light. "Dusk Medley!" With a few arm movements, fiery music notes shot out from her fists, dancing around the flummoxed black German Shepherd wildly.

"This is my chance!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she readied herself. "Twilight Sparkle!" She threw her ring again. But this time, the German Shepherd evaded it again, almost hitting Cure Dusk in the face had Cure Starlight not knocked it back with her naginata.

"Be careful!" Cure Starlight snapped angrily.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it!" Cure Twilight wailed frightfully, cowed by Cure Starlight's sudden change in temperament. Hotaru is normally never angry, so Riko couldn't help but be frightened.

"So this is Uomisaki-san's soul, huh? Better purify it! Dusk Flame!" Cure Dusk mused to herself as she shot some orange flames around the German Shepherd. It howled and barked as it was consumed by the orange flames, its black fur disintegrating until it turned back into a cobalt blue orb. Cure Twilight was the first to pick it up, take it to Toyoki's Soul Portal, and gently drop it back in. All of the Pretty Cures left the blacktop as soon as he regained his color.

"Yay! We did it again! You're one of us now, Asagi-san!" Cure Twilight exclaimed cheerfully. But much to everyone's surprise, she's completely oblivious to the fact that Cure Dusk has a very grim, insulted look on her face, like it was full of nothing but contempt. "You were so awesome out there-"

"You idiot!" Cure Dusk yelled, which made Cure Twilight step back in fear and surprise. Cure Dusk gave the frightened Cure Twilight a very insinuating and angry look, her golden eyes donning a feral, animal-like sheen. "You almost killed me back there with that freakin' boomerang of yours! Not only that, you knocked that giant dog right next to his body! You could have killed him if that thing actually did fall on him, and you almost destroyed the police station across the street!" The happy look on Twilight's face was literally wiped away like a big mess on a kitchen floor, replaced with a face that made her look like she's about to literally burst into tears at any given moment.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Honest!" Cure Twilight shot back with fear and confusion consuming her, but Cure Dusk didn't back down. Riko's eyesight began to blur, and her hypersensitive ears were being bombarded by the sheer loudness that is Marina's yelling.

"You almost ruined this whole thing, you stupid idiot!" Cure Dusk yelled, refusing to back down.

"Hey! Calm down, will you?!" Cure Dawn exclaimed as she hopped in between the frightened Cure Twilight and the angry Cure Dusk. "Look, she didn't mean anything bad by any of this. She was just trying to help! That's all! She didn't know the giant dog was gonna evade her attack, and even if we were careful trying to fight that thing, it'd still destroy some stuff anyway! And besides, we're all new at this here, and you're right, we do need to be more careful. Sorry for all this craziness. But you don't have to take it out on Riko here! Yeah, she almost hit you with her boomerang and her attacking the dog got the police station roughed up, but it was an accident! It's not like she wanted those to happen! Take a breath, will you? Look at her! Riko looks like she's about to cry any minute!" Anzu proclaimed boldly but calmly and lucidly, then pointing to Riko, whose face is the very definition of fear and remorse right now.

As ordered, Marina did take a breath. A pretty deep one. Soon, her angry look dissipated, like an eraser erasing some chalk on a chalkboard, and a remorseful and utterly exhausted expression got painted on her worried face instead. "Sorry. All this craziness is making me frustrated."

"We feel you, but try to express your frustration in healthier ways instead of taking it out on your comrades," Cure Starlight said.

'_I don't even know if I can call her a comrade,'_ Riko thought as she tried to regain what was left of her equanimity, if she even had any at all after getting yelled at like that. A very small twinge of regret began sneaking into her heart. Perhaps being friends with Marina is a bad idea after all?

"AGH!" The wails of the fairies drew their attention back to the street, where they found Moonbeam and Sunbeam injured and lying on the street, with an irritated Zenjin giving them the stinkeye.

"Annoying little pests. Let me do what I want!" Zenjin sneered as the girls went to tend to the fairies. He turned around on his heel and almost left until an extremely choleric Sunbeam flew out of Riko's arms.

"ZENJIIIIIN! DON'T YOU WALK AWAY FROM MEEEE!" Sunbeam screamed in her loudest voice possible, which finally made Zenjin stop in his tracks. But he didn't turn around to look at her. Everyone froze in place, wondering what the heck Sunbeam is doing, putting herself in more potential danger. It didn't seem like Zenjin was interested in dealing with her anymore, however, so he likely didn't feel the need to attack her again.

"I...I just want to know! Why are you doing all of this?! Did we do something wrong?! We...We were nice to you! We saved you from that evil woman! We gave you everything she never gave you, and yet...you had to go and do all of this...why, Zenjin?!" Sunbeam cried desperately, with dejection literally consuming her entire being. "Why did you betray all of us?! Especially me! I've been nice to you! I've tried to make you happy! I...I thought we were FRIENDS!" Now the tears came pouring out of Sunbeam's desperate, pleading blue eyes.

The girls' eyes widened in complete, unadulterated shock. _'Sunbeam and Zenjin? Friends? No way!'_ Riko thought, becoming even more confused. Sunbeam and Zenjin? Friends? That just couldn't be the case. How in the wide wide world of Earth could a heartless, devious, nefarious, mischievous, crazy teenaged psychopath with no sense of guilt, empathy, or remorse and a cheerful, happy-go-lucky little fairy possibly be friends? If what Sunbeam is saying is true, Riko just couldn't comprehend such a far out idea. Neither could everyone else, apparently.

"Was the friendship we had just a big fat lie?!" Sunbeam cried as loud as she could, hoping Zenjin would hear. He did.

All throughout her speech, Zenjin never turned around. He just listened and stared at the scenery in front of him, taking in Sunbeam's pleas and cries. Nobody could tell what he's thinking, because they can't see his face or read his mind. All they saw was the back of his head, strung with sterling silver hair. An awkward silence creeped between them for about a few minutes, the tension being quite tense, until a snicker broke it. The snicker then evolved into chuckling, and then into full-on laughter, something very inopportune in a dire situation like this. Even Sunbeam couldn't help but be appalled.

"Friendship? Us? Friends? There was never any friendship! You were never my friend at all, you hairy little rat! I NEVER liked you!" Zenjin yelled arrogantly. Sunbeam could seriously hear her heart break into pieces. It felt like glass was being broken in her little chest. "In fact…" Zenjin turned around, with an insouciant, almost calm and content expression on his face, making full eye contact with Sunbeam. But he donned a small smile, which seemed very inappropriate.

Especially with what even came out of his mouth right then and there.

"You're a curse. You should never have been born. More importantly..._you don't exist_."

If the apocalypse happened right then and there, Sunbeam wouldn't notice, because an internal apocalypse happened right within her heart. She froze mid-air, her blue eyes wider than she thought they could muster. Zenjin turned back around and teleported away, not wanting to sit around and deal with any potential waterworks. Nobody had the courage to zap him or attack him or anything. They were just too tired from everything that went on. Fighting a giant dog, Marina becoming Cure Dusk, Riko getting yelled at for blunders she didn't intend, and now Sunbeam's heart has been cruelly ripped to pieces, stomped on, and left to get stomped on some more, if such a thing was possible. Sunbeam's blue eyes literally lost their shine and everything else as soon as Zenjin opened his mouth. The shine in her coat vanished into thin air. Sunbeam's throat closed up. She couldn't say anything more. Her plump, curled ears drooped downward, facing the concrete, limp and lifeless. Her eyes now looked like those belonging to a puppy that's been abused and beaten for God knows how many times.

Fearfully, Riko, turning back to her old self, finally mustered the mettle to try and amble toward the completely heartbroken fairy. But every step she took felt like she had titanium bricks duct taped to her feet. Then again, she's exhausted from today's fight, so it's understandable. But she didn't want to just leave Sunbeam there, looking so sad, so broken, so somber, so downright destroyed by the cruel things Zenjin said to her, if what Sunbeam mentioned about them supposedly being friends is true. But once Riko got close enough, she stopped, because Sunbeam found her voice.

"Zenjin...you...you...you…" Sunbeam muttered quietly at first, then, at the top of her voice, she shouted at the sky, causing Riko to cover her ears again, using what's left of her vocal chords, "YOU IDIOOOOT! I HATE YOOOOU! WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU TO SUFFER AT THAT EVIL WOMAN'S HAAAAAND!"

With that, Sunbeam let out piercing and passionate wails as she flew away like a housefly, far away.

"Sunbeam! Wait!" Riko tried to catch her, but the crying fairy was too fast for her, and she wasn't sure where she'd go. Sunbeam left the scene in tears, leaving Riko, Anzu, Hotaru, Marina, Moonbeam, and Starbeam behind.

A tear slithered out of one of Riko's eyes and down her cheek as she heard the sad fairy's cry echo in the air. "Sunbeam…"

Footnotes:

1. A Little Princess is a book written in 1904 by a British woman named Frances Hodgson Burnett. It inspired the 1997 movie staring Liesel Matthews, and an anime for it was made in 1985. A movie starring Shirley Temple was made in the 1930s.


	6. Sunbeam and Zenjin Were Friends?

Chapter 6: Poor Sunbeam! She and Zenjin were friends?!

"Umm…" Returning to her old self, feeling bogged down by everything that just happened, understandably, Marina finally broke the silence. "Want to come to my house and cool down? It's a bit of a trek, though," She suggested in a soft voice.

"Sure. That's fine. Thanks for the offer," Hotaru said once she turned back. "We'll explain everything when we get there. Is that okay?" She asked.

"Yeah," Marina replied weakly.

"Come on," Anzu said softly as she scooped a weak and tired Moonbeam in her arms. Starbeam floated onto Hotaru's left shoulder. She's fine because she left the fight against Zenjin early due to feeling obligated to help a frazzled Marina cope with the fact that she's a Pretty Cure and help her fight.

"Shouldn't we get our stuff first?" Riko asked, her emerald eyes puffy and red with tears, though her voice is how it usually is, clear and lucid, not hoarse.

"Oh yeah," Marina said after the realization hit her on the brain like a chicken laying its eggs. They went back to their now completely empty classrooms, got their stuff, and followed Marina to where her house is, leaving the school behind.

Marina's right. The house is a little far from the school. The girls didn't mind, though. They just wanted to walk off the bad feelings that are tangled up in their brains and thoughts, hoping to knock away the confusing cobwebs and release the tension. But the dejection still lingered, along with feelings of frustration, confusion, and worst of all, anger. Everyone wanted to deck Zenjin. How can he be so cruel? How can he be so bold and audacious as to say those mean things to someone who thought she was his friend and show absolutely no remorse or guilt for it? It wasn't hard to understand why Sunbeam lost it and flew away in a huge paroxysm of tears. They couldn't blame her. Zenjin was quite cruel to her. But then again, he's cruel to everybody else, so it wasn't hard to hate him.

Riko's sad like everyone else is. But she wasn't sad just for Sunbeam's sake. She wanted to help out, to make things better, to finally be able to contain Toyoki's soul without causing blunders in the process. But despite her best efforts and despite trying to be as careful as possible, she unknowingly made more blunders, and Marina called her out on it. Loudly and vehemently. She's been exposed to this response for years now, having received this a myriad of times before in different situations, but she's still not used to it. She was already shaken up from the battle, and Marina yelling at her, calling her names, and making it sound like she made those blunders on purpose did not make things better. Not by a long shot. Even though Anzu stepped in, understood that she had good intentions, and clarified things, much to Riko's internal delight, as something like that never happened to her before, Riko still didn't feel better. All she wanted to do was go home and relax, shake off the lingering sadness, get the yelling out of her head, and force the bad memories out of her brain. But they arrived at her house, where they were greeted by Marina's mother...who came out looking quite understandably worried, like she saw a horror movie.

"Marina!" With a shout, she glomped her daughter like she hadn't seen her in years. "Oh, Marina! I'm so glad you're safe! I saw what happened to the school on TV! I was literally just about to go and get you! Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" Marina's mother asked hysterically, albeit relieved that her only daughter is safe.

"I'm fine, Mom," Marina replied in a low voice.

Soon, Marina's mother let go of her, but then caught sight of Hotaru, Riko, and Anzu. "Who are they?"

"These are...my friends," Marina replied softly.

"Your...friends…?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah. We fled the school when the craziness happened, and they wanted to go somewhere safe to cool down, so I offered to let them come here. Sorry," Marina confessed a little sadly. She expected her mother to get angry at her, to tell her not to have strangers come over. But much to her surprise, instead of getting angry, she's happier than a newly blossoming sunflower basking in the effulgence of the sun, looking like she had the best experience of her life.

"Oh! No no no! Come on in! It's been a long while since we've had guests, so I don't mind at all! But do let your parents know that you're here. I don't want them getting worried. Oh! This is so wonderful, Mari-chan!" Marina's mother exclaimed when she let the girls in the house. "My goodness! You thought you'd never see the day in which you'd actually have friends and have them over! You must be so happy, Mari-chan! I know I sure am!" Marina's mother began gadding away like a chatterbox. Marina couldn't help but be surprised by her mother's sudden change in behavior. But then again, Marina herself had always wanted friends, but never had any because people hated her due to her family background. Her mother knew this, and it always made her sad to see Marina so sad, lonely, and friendless.

"Would you like anything, girls? I have lots of snacks to pick from! Would you like anything to drink? Water? Juice? Soda? Orange juice?" Marina's mother interrogated them a little too happily, to the point where Marina's face started to grow beet red with embarrassment, but not entirely.

"Just glasses of water are fine. We're gonna go up to my room. Okay?" Marina told her.

"We're very grateful for your magnanimous hospitality, and please pardon our unprecedented entrance," Hotaru told her politely and bowed in a suave, refined manner.

"Uhh...aren't you in high school?" Marina's mother asked. "How do you know my daughter?"

"My school was cancelled to hold a vigil for a student who died, and I happened to be in the area when the commotion happened," Hotaru explained as calmly and lucidly as possible.

"Oh. I see," Marina's mother said. Before she could say anything more, the girls gathered in Marina's roon. They all sat down in wherever they felt comfortable. Anzu sat on Marina's bed, taking care not to disturb some things she has on it, while Hotaru, Riko, and Marina chose to sit on the floor.

"So...where do we start?" Riko asked.

"Can anyone explain to me what all of this weirdness is about?" Marina began, raising her hand like she's in school.

"We can explain everything, Marina-san," Starbeam piped in.

Starting from scratch, Starbeam told Marina and the other girls about Rozaniela and its inhabitants, why they created the planet, the Energia, Zenjin getting his hands on it, what he did to Rozaniela, Pretty Cure, and Soul Portals. It wasn't any different from what Sunbeam and Moonbeam told Riko. But once Starbeam explained the gist of it, Marina began to feel a little better. She definitely became much less frazzled than before, and she lost the angry, contorted look on her face.

"That definitely explains a lot. Thanks. But one quick question: what exactly does the word Rozaniela mean?" Marina told the fairies.

"Oh. We actually borrowed it from your human language. The word Rozaniela is actually a Polish word that translates to happiness or well-being. It was the Queen's idea. Sorry!" Moonbeam explained.

"Thieves," Anzu mused to herself in a low whisper.

"So...what's Zenjin's deal? Why's he going around stealing souls and turning them into monsters?" Marina asked.

"That part, we're still trying to figure out. We have no idea why he's doing what he's been doing, and we don't know what his motive is for even stealing the Energia in the first place," Moonbeam explained a little sadly.

"How did you fairies even meet Zenjin?" Hotaru asked curiously.

"You said something about him being rescued from an abusive home. Sunbeam said an evil woman was beating him?" Riko said.

"Oh, his original life on Earth was absolutely horrid," Starbeam explained. "We weren't there when the King and some of his denizens rescued him, but they've told us about it a great deal, and we saw them bring him onto Rozaniela. They found out about his existence about a few years ago, and when they discovered the absolutely terrible abuse he was going through, they decided to save him. It was risky, they said, as the rescue itself would give them away. But they went and did it anyway, knowing how badly he needed to be removed from that awful place. Oh, just telling you about what the poor child went through makes me want to cry! The poor child was so battered and so broken and so near death I'm still surprised they were even able to save him! The woman who raised him is an evil, despicable woman, from what the King told us. She beat him constantly…"

"Deprived him of food," Moonbeam piped in. The two fairies sudden began going back and forth in describing the horrific abuse that Zenjin had to endure on Earth.

"Forced him to sleep in a dog house…"

"Threw him through broken glass…"

"Called him names every single day…"

"Yelled at him every single day…"

"Told him he's a curse…"

"And that he should never have been born…"

"Put out lit cigarette butts on him…"

"Humiliated him every chance she had…"

"Sat on him and beat him senseless until he couldn't breathe…"

"Made him eat his own vomit…"

"Deliberately made him do bad things for more pretext to abuse him…"

"I think we get the idea," Anzu said with a hand in the air, cutting the two fairies off, which made them finish talking.

"Jeez. To think I thought I had it bad," Marina mused with her arms crossed.

"So your King and some friends rescued him. What happened after that?" Riko asked curiously, interested in knowing more.

"We brought him to Rozaniela so he can have a happy life. But from what we've seen, he had a very hard time adjusting, despite the love and affection the Queen and others showered on him. He never talked to anyone, he didn't go to school, he just sat in places and stared at everything listlessly. But the Queen figured he needed time to adjust before she considered sending him to school. She was afraid that if we forced it, we might unknowingly make things worse. She thought he just needed some time," Moonbeam explained.

"So...what does all of this have to do with Sunbeam? Were she and Zenjin really...friends?" Anzu tried to ask this as politely as possible, but considering the fact that they heard Zenjin mercilessly rip Sunbeam's heart out and smash it to pieces, getting to hear how he really felt about her, she thought the word friends would be too inappropriate or sensitive to use. But she couldn't think of anything better, so she went and used it. Moonbeam's long, purple and blue ears drooped down to the floor, looking just as sad as she is.

"I wouldn't say they were actually friends, now that we really know how he feels about her. But when he first came to Rozaniela, Sunbeam would sneak out every chance she got to play with him. She wanted to be his first friend and give him everything that evil woman never gave him. He never did respond to her, but she kept on trying to interact with him. She really thought some kindness would get through to him, as it did so many others the Queen and King have saved. But as it turns out, nothing she or any of us have done worked," Starbeam explained sadly.

"Poor Sunbeam…" Riko mused dejectedly, her little heart going out to the sad orange fairy who flew away somewhere in tears. All Sunbeam wanted to do was be Zenjin's friend and make him happy, and kept on trying despite never getting any responses, only to discover that he never liked her and that he was absolutely not willing to be friends with her. From the way he talked to the sad orange fairy, he made it sound like Sunbeam was his mortal enemy, like she was a threat, just like the evil woman was to him so long ago. How could Zenjin be so ungrateful, so cold, so merciless, so insensitive, so downright heartless as to not only reject someone's unrelenting kindness, but to tell them that they should never have been born, among other things? He really hurt Sunbeam's feelings and made her cry. There was no way Riko could forgive that, no matter what kind of life he had. It really pained her heart to see the normally cheerful and energetic, if somewhat mouthy, Sunbeam so sad and so destroyed, both inside and out.

"I brought some snacks and water," Marina's mother said as she brought in a plate of food and drinks. She gently placed it down on the floor so nothing on it would break or fall off.

"Thanks, Mom," Marina said as she took a glass and immediately gulped it down. Riko saw that on the tray are lots of crackers, little pretzels, and chocolate chip cookies. She and Moonbeam went for water and the cookies. Anzu and Starbeam grabbed some crackers, and Marina and Hotaru grabbed some pretzels.

"Man, that hit the spot," Anzu said as she finished eating her crackers and gulped down her glass of water. "I really needed that."

"Me too," Starbeam piped in.

"Oh! Before I forget, here," Hotaru said as she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out some pieces of paper. She handed them all to Riko, Anzu, and Marina. "This is my cell phone number. I've been meaning to give these to you, but I never got the chance until now. Hopefully now it'll be easier to contact each other when a Corrupt Sentinel attacks."

"Thanks, Hotaru-san!" Anzu said as she put the paper in her pocket.

"But we don't have cell phones," Riko said.

"My dad says he's gonna get me one soon in case of emergencies," Anzu piped in.

"Mine too," Marina said.

"At least now maintaining contact will be somewhat easier," Moonbeam said as she flew into Riko's tender arms.

"I'm gonna go call my parents," Riko said quietly as she stood up and left the room, unknowingly taking Moonbeam with her.

Riko quietly stepped out of Marina's room and went into the dining room to find Marina's mother sitting on one of the chairs, reading a kindle. "Oh! Hello there!" Marina's mother exclaimed with a smile, which made Riko blush and turn away.

"Hi," Riko replied sheepishly, knowing that it'd be rude to not respond, even though she'd much rather not do so.

"Do you like it here so far?"

"I dunno."

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Asagi Hatoko, Marina's mother. What's your name?"

"Ta-Ta-Ta-Tasogare...Riko…"

As soon as Marina's mother, Hatoko, heard her name, her smile faded in an instant. "Oh...you're...I see. Then I should apologize. My daughter has developed a bad habit of picking on people, and I feel very bad about what she put you through. The school told me about it. I'm sorry she acted the way she did, and I don't condone it in any way."

"It's okay. I get picked on all the time, so I'm used to it by now," Riko replied sheepishly, not quite sure of how to respond to that question. She just went with what her gut told her to say.

"It's just...Marina's never had any friends because of her father's background, and it always made me sad to see her so lonely, even more so when she started getting into fights and bullying people as a way of coping with all the hatred. I hope you at least understand," Hatoko explained as kindly as she could.

"I get it. She said sorry to me, so it's fine. Where's your phone?" Riko said.

"Right on the counter," Hatoko replied, pointing to the counter. "By the way, that's a cute plushie you have."

"Thanks," Riko said when she saw the silver phone on the counter. She picked it up, dialed her phone number, and waited for an answer. After a couple rings, someone answered on the other line.

"_Hello? Tasogare residence,"_ It's Saki's voice.

"Hi, Mom. It's Riko," She said.

"_Riko?! Oh, thank goodness! I heard about what happened to the school. I went to find you but you weren't there! Where are you now?"_ Saki exclaimed worriedly.

"At a friend's house. She invited us there to cool down," Riko replied shyly.

"_What's the address?"_ Saki asked.

"Uh…" She didn't know. But Hatoko would know. She could ask her. "Hang on a sec," Riko said as she turned toward Hatoko. "Asagi-san? What's this house's address?"

"It's 2318 Himura Avenue," Hatoko replied.

"2318 Himura Avenue. It's a blue and white house. It's got the name tag Asagi on it," Riko told her worried but relieved mother casually.

"_Himura...Avenue...Asagi...got it! That's not far from here, so I'll pick you up right now. Okay? Thanks for calling, Riko. Just stay put, okay? I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye!"_ Saki said, then hung up. Riko hung up the phone as well. She then went into a little hallway, then stopped in her tracks.

"What's wrong, Riko-chan?" Moonbeam asked, noticing that Riko's looking like she's about to cry.

"I messed up again. Asagi yelled at me, just like everybody does when I mess up. I'm sick of it!" Riko whimpered sadly.

"Don't be sad, Riko-chan. Everybody messes up. Besides, you did your best. I do agree that Marina-san shouldn't have yelled at you, though. But I'm sure she's sorry, and we can do better next time," Moonbeam explained.

"No. You don't get it. I never get better at anything, and everyone knows it. Anything I do wrong, I always get yelled at. Always! People yell at me even when I don't even do anything at all! I'm so sick of getting yelled at all the time! It's bad enough I can never do anything right!" Riko snapped, with some tears trickling out.

'_She's taking it a lot more personally than I imagined,'_ Moonbeam thought curiously. It broke her heart to see Riko looking sad, and it was already heart wrenching to see her own sister, Sunbeam, so broken beyond repair. "Well, you at least put the officer's soul back in his Soul Portal. That's good, right? If you ever want to talk or vent, I'm more than willing to listen and help out, even though I might not be able to do much," She told her with a smile.

This made Riko smile a bit as she used one of her bare arms to wipe her tears away. "At least you understand me. I'd really like that."

"Anzu-chan understands too. She stopped Marina from yelling at you more."

"Yeah. Good point."

She was about to turn around and go back until she stopped to find Marina standing at the end of the hall, looking rather guilty and rueful. "Hey," Marina whispered.

"Hey," Riko whispered back.

"Look, I'm...sorry for snapping at you earlier. That was stupid of me," Marina told her apologetically, her golden eyes shaking a little.

Riko kept on looking down, away from Marina's remorseful eyes. "It's fine. I mess up all the time, and I get yelled at all the time, so I'm used to it," Riko replied weakly.

"I know. I have trouble keeping my anger in check, and I tend to question people's motives a lot. My mom's signed me up for anger management classes, so hopefully it'll help. If I ever do it again, try not to take it personally. 'Kay?" Marina told her as she rubbed part of her frizzy orange hair with her hand.

Riko nodded quietly. "Considering what you went through, I can sorta understand why, Asagi-san."

"Uh...you _can_ call me Marina, y'know. I want us to be friends, so if you wanna call me by my first name, it's okay. Do you mind if I use yours, too?" Marina told her.

"Sure. I don't mind," Riko murmured shyly. Moonbeam could see the sad look still lingering, suspecting that Riko isn't feeling any better and not feeling very convinced.

_Knock knock_

"Coming!" When she heard the knock on the door, Hatoko rushed to the door and opened it to find Saki at the door.

"Hello there. Is Tasogare Riko here?" Saki asked politely. Before Hatoko could call out, Riko came herself.

"Hi, Mom," Riko said.

"Ready to go, sweetie?" Saki asked.

"Yeah. But can I show you someone?" Riko said, then adding in a question of her own.

"Sure," Saki said.

Riko ran back to Marina's room, grabbed a confused Anzu by the hand, dragged her to the front door, and stopped. "Mom, this is Chino Anzu, my friend. An-chan, this is my mom, Saki."

A smile appeared on Saki's face as soon as she saw the blonde haired, bespectacled girl. Riko didn't see, as she was too focused on Moonbeam. "It's nice to meet you, Chino-san. Riko's told me so much about you," Saki told her as she shook Anzu's hand.

"Thanks. Nice to meet you, too. Sorry for all this weirdness," Anzu replied with a smile of her own.

"You ought to come over sometime. We'd love to have you," Saki told her, which made Anzu smile even more. It even made Riko and Moonbeam smile.

"Thanks for watching Riko for me, Asagi-san. Sorry for the trouble," Saki told Hatoko.

"It's no problem at all. Feel free to have her come over sometime!" Hatoko exclaimed.

Soon, Saki, Riko, and Moonbeam got into the car and left the Asagi house. But as they were on the ride home, Riko couldn't help but remember something that popped into her head like a party popper. "Shouldn't we be looking for Sunbeam?" Riko whispered quietly.

"Sunbeam tends to be snippy when she's sad, so we're better off leaving her alone. She'll come back when she's feeling better," Moonbeam explained in a dulcet whisper so Saki wouldn't hear her.

"Anzu-chan seems like a nice girl," Saki said.

"She is. We sit at lunch together, along with someone else," Riko said.

Soon, they made it home safe and sound. Saki and Riko did end up getting greeted by a very happy and energetic Yumiko, who jumped on them and begged for food with her big puppy eyes and followed them around like a baby chick. After that, Riko and Moonbeam went back to Riko's room, hopefully to finally be able to calm down and relax after all the craziness that happened. Riko herself is just happy to be back in her room. But as soon as they walked right on, both of their hypersensitive ears picked up on a sound they really didn't want to hear.

Sniveling. Sobbing. Crying.

One look in her big stuffed animal pile confirmed the source of it: Sunbeam. She's covering her face with her stubby little orange arms, but everyone could see the huge gobs of tears streaming down her chubby cheeks and the dark marks on some of Riko's stuffed animals. Her ears bobbed up and down with her crying, but they still drooped, limp like wet towels being hung outside to dry. So she came here to cry out her woes instead of just wandering off to someplace unfamiliar. Riko was about to ask Sunbeam why she came here of all places, but she felt a gentle press on her hand. She looked down to find one of Moonbeam's hands on her own. Moonbeam looked at her with a pleading look and gently shook her head. Riko actually made eye contact this time, and she saw the silent message in Moonbeam's sterling silver eyes: it's best to let Sunbeam cry for a while. She'll stop. Plus, if what Moonbeam said is true about Sunbeam getting snippy when she's said, Riko didn't want to risk getting yelled at again for her good intentions, so she decided to leave the sad orange fairy alone.

But she didn't want to leave without saying something. "Sunbeam? If you need anything, let me and Moonbeam know. Okay? I'll bring some dinner for you when it's ready," Riko whispered as soft as she could, hoping not to scare her. Sunbeam nodded without turning to look at Riko. But the short haired girl didn't mind. The nod was enough, so she put Moonbeam down on her bed and went downstairs to work on some homework before dinner, leaving the two sisters alone together. Moonbeam said nothing as she picked out a book and read it in silence while Sunbeam sat within Riko's mountain of stuffed animal and cried some more. Moonbeam never saw Sunbeam cry this much before. Oh, how she yearned to comfort her older sister so! But she also didn't want to risk getting yelled at, so she read one of Riko's books.

However, unbeknownst to everyone, Sunbeam wasn't just crying. She was taking an unintentional trip down memory lane.

(flashback)

_Sunbeam and other fairies, none of which were her sisters, played in a field full of newly blossoming flowers in vibrant, multifarious colors, like pale cotton candy pink, sky blue, cloudy white, sunshine yellow, and lavender purple. The fairies zipped around happily, laughing and cheering and chasing each other like annoying house flies. The sky above them was an absolutely stunning shade of pale pink, like the frail foliage of cherry blossoms, with a radiant sun spreading its golden effulgence down below, giving warmth and light to all of Rozaniela's inhabitants. The trees that surrounded them had foliage in very strange colors, like dark blue, light blue, teal, violet purple, narcissus white, and cotton candy pink. No, these weren't flowers, they were actual leaves in unnatural colors. But the fairies didn't find their unnatural foliage colors to be odd at all._

"_Bet you can't catch me!" Sunbeam teased as she zipped happily and exuberantly around some trees like a housefly trying to find some nectar to drink._

"_Come back here, Sunbeam!" One pale green fairy exclaimed in a young, boyish voice as he and two others chased after her. Once Sunbeam found herself in another field, she saw that something was there. But it wasn't just something. It was someone. She stopped in her tracks to get a better look._

_It was a boy. A human boy. Just about twenty feet away from her, sitting on the flower garden, looking down at what he's sitting on rather listlessly. He looked to be about eight or so years old. All she could see of him is his long, dark, crimson red hair that went down to his neck, making him look like a girl if one were not observant enough. One of his arms is in a hard, snow white cast, from shoulder to palm, completely covered, leaving only his fingers mobile. His right ankle is wrapped in bandages, going up to his knee, with the rest of it covered with one half of a set of black shoes. He's wearing a plain dark blue T-shirt and brown shorts. Parts of his face had gauze taped to it. His left eye is covered with a white eye patch._

"_Sunbeam!" The pale green fairy finally caught up with Sunbeam, with a pink and blue fairy and a red and white fairy trailing behind. "What'cha lookin' at, Sunny?" The pale green fairy asked curiously._

"_Who's that human?" Sunbeam asked, pointing to the boy staring down at the flowers listlessly._

"_Him? That's the boy the King and some of his denizens saved from some evil woman about two weeks ago. He said he's calling himself Zenjin," The pale green fairy explained._

"_He looks so sad. Poor thing," The pink and blue fairy said in a sweet voice, feeling pity for the broken boy._

"_I wish the King punished whoever hurt him. They really deserve it!" The red and white fairy exclaimed, throwing some punches in the air._

"_How old is he?" Sunbeam asked._

"_From what I heard, he's ten," The pink and blue fairy told her._

"_Ehhh?!" Sunbeam yelped, surprised. "He's ten?! But he looks so much younger!"_

"_Shh! You'll scare him, Sunny!" The pale green fairy shushed, prompting Sunbeam to shut her mouth. But when they turned to glance at him again, they noticed he didn't move a muscle. Not even the tiniest little millimeter. He just continued to stare down at the flowers listlessly, like he didn't hear a thing the quartet of fairies said at all._

"_Hey! Here's an idea! How about we play with him? It'll be so much fun!" Sunbeam suggested with a cute, radiant smile, her cheer coming back like it never left._

"_I dunno. He hasn't played with anyone since he came here. He just ignores everyone and sits around and stares at everything. To be honest, he kind of scares me a little," The pink and blue fairy told her, sounding unsure._

"_My mom says you shouldn't talk bad about people behind their back. It's not nice," Sunbeam piped in._

"_That's true," The green fairy agreed._

"_Who knows? Maybe he's really nice and sweet! We won't know until we talk to him! If you don't want to, that's okay," Sunbeam exclaimed._

"_Sure. It's okay. You can go play with him. But try not to be too long, though. We have at least fifteen more minutes until recess is over," The red and white fairy told her._

"_Yay! Thanks!" Sunbeam exclaimed as she zipped away from her three fairy friends and toward Zenjin. Once she got close, however, she stopped and floated back down on the flowers so as to not scare him. She ambled in front of him to find that one of his eyes is a neutral dark brown color, like chocolate, but it had absolutely no sign of life in it whatsoever. It was like all the light and life had been sucked right out of him. It wasn't hard to understand why. His other eye is covered with a white eye patch. His skin is pale and white like snow, a very unhealthy shade. He didn't seem to notice the fairy is even in front of him. Sunbeam couldn't help but agree with her friend that his insouciant, listless state scared her a little bit, but she gathered her mettle and pushed her fears to the wayside._

"_Hello," Sunbeam told him cheerfully but softly, so she wouldn't scare him. No response. Nothing wrong with that. She kept going. "I'm Sunbeam! You're Zenjin, right? Nice to meet you," She said again. No response again._

"_You're gonna love Rozaniela. It's super pretty, there's castles everywhere, there's lots of animals here, and everyone here is nice to each other! Well, not everybody, but for the most part everyone's nice. Then again, the King and Queen did make the planet so they could give people who've been through bad stuff a second chance at life, so I guess that's a given," Sunbeam told him. Again, no response. She couldn't help but find his silence rather unsettling._

"_So what do you like to do? Do you have any games you like playing?" Sunbeam asked. No response. "My friends and I like playing tag and hide and seek. We also like playing board games like Fairy's Frenzy, Rozanielan Rhapsody, Jenga, Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, Candyland, Scrabble, and Leap Frog's Pond. Oh! Do you like card games? I often play Go Fish with my parents and sisters. I'm not really good at ones like Crazy Eights or Rummy. Starbeam is, though! She adores card games when she's not holed up in a book! Oh! Here's an idea! Tomorrow I'll bring my deck of cards so we can play! Or my Jenga box so we can play that! I'd love to teach you how to play Fairy's Frenzy, though. It's so much fun!"_

_Not one response came out of the lifeless looking boy. Not even any muscle movement. He sat as still as a mannequin the entire time. But Sunbeam found that she didn't mind. She was going to talk to him some more until a voice stopped her from doing so. "Zenjin!"_

_Much to Sunbeam's surprise, Zenjin finally responded by turning his head around. Sunbeam could see his eyes widen a little, but not to a scared or fearful degree. Sunbeam looked past Zenjin to see a man walking toward them. He looked rather young, like in his mid to late twenties, with long, shimmering, light emerald green hair flowing down his body like vines sticking to the walls of a very old house, complete with a little tiny beard on his face. His eyes are a lively shade of cherry red, looking quite vibrant and illustrious, just like his extravagant clothing. His clothes looked like they were ripped right out of the 18th century: a crimson coat over a crimson shirt, all embroidered with shining gold lace on the corners, from the edges of the pockets all the way to his collar. Even the buttons on his coat are gold. He also wore matching crimson pants that only went down to his knees, with four black buttons on each side of them, going up from his pant legs vertically. He also wore very tall, pristine, snow white socks coupled with moccasins that had lots of orange and sky blue patterns sewn on them, like they really were made by real Native Americans who lived before America was discovered by the Europeans. A curly white lace ruffle hung from the man's collar, matching the ruffles that came out of the cuffs on his sleeves._

"_Hello, Zenjin!" The green haired, weirdly dressed man said with a suave, polite sounding voice and a kind, gentle smile as he kneeled before the listless boy like it was the most normal thing in the world. But when he opened his eyes, he noticed Sunbeam there. "I see you've made a new friend. Thanks for keeping him company, little one. He has a habit of coming here and staring into space all by himself," The green haired man told her kindly._

"_You're welcome. All I've done is talk to him though. He hasn't talked to me yet. But can I play with him whenever I have recess?" Sunbeam told him sweetly, which made him smile some more._

"_That'll depend on whether he wants to play with anyone or not, since he hasn't socialized with anyone yet. You must understand he's been through quite a horrible time," The green haired man said._

"_Is he gonna be okay?" Sunbeam asked innocently._

"_We'll see. Come along now, Zenjin. Beileag is waiting for us," The green haired man said as he extended his hand out to Zenjin. For the very first time, Sunbeam saw Zenjin pull up his arm, reach out to the man's palm, and allowed it to be swallowed by one of the green haired man's big hands. Hand in hand, the two walked away. But Sunbeam wasn't done yet._

"_I'll come play with you again tomorrow, Zenjin! I'd love for us to be friends! See ya!" Sunbeam called out. Again, Zenjin didn't respond, but she didn't mind. Sunbeam began feeling giddy inside and flew back to school with a light heart. She made a new friend! A new friend! One who's human, too! It was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world._

_In the weeks that went by, she found herself playing with Zenjin every chance she got. She talked to him, told him stories, and read books to him. The only problem was that he never talked back to her or responded to anything she did. He just sat there in silence, staring at her like she was never there. Sunbeam assumed he was still sad from the abuse he had to endure before coming to Rozaniela. But she didn't think he was incapable of interaction with anyone. She saw him respond to the green haired man. Who's to say he won't eventually respond to her? About two weeks or so after their first meeting, Sunbeam came to their fairy school one day with a big box wrapped in a plum blossom themed _furoshiki(1)_. At lunch time, she unwrapped the purple furoshiki and opened the maroon box to reveal lots of little cupcakes, all with lime green frosting dappled on them with little chocolate chips on top._

"_Wow! These look good!" The green fairy exclaimed._

"_Where'd you buy these, Sunny?" The red and white fairy asked curiously._

"_I didn't. I made these myself!" Sunbeam confessed with a smile._

"_You cooked these all by yourself?" The pink and blue fairy asked, surprised._

"_Yep! I practiced lots and lots, and it was really hard, but I finally got them to come out well! Wanna try one? They're super duper good!" Sunbeam told them. Curiously, the red and white fairy took a cupcake, removed the aluminum foil on the bottom, and bit off a good chunk of the lime green frosting, the chocolate chip going down his throat with it._

"_Hey! These ARE good!" The red and white fairy exclaimed happily, his eyes glowing with joy._

"_You like it, Flicker? Thanks!" Sunbeam exclaimed, referring to the red and white fairy as Flicker._

_The green and pink fairies each took a cupcake and took some bites out of it as well. Their faces lit up when they finished eating their pieces. "Wow! These are great, Sunny!" The green fairy exclaimed._

"_You should make these more often!" The pink fairy said._

"_Thanks, Patch and Mimosa!" Sunbeam exclaimed, referring to the green fairy as Patch and the pink one Mimosa._

"_Hm? How come there's a few more? You saving them for someone else?" Mimosa asked curiously when she noticed there's a couple more cupcakes in the box even though there's enough for Sunbeam, Flicker, Mimosa, and Patch._

_Flicker rolled his eyes. "I think I know who you're gonna give the rest of those cupcakes to," Flicker said._

_Sunbeam flashed a sheepish but mischievous looking smile and said no more. The fairies ate the lime green cupcakes Sunbeam made and the rest of their lunch. After that, recess came along and everyone played...except for Sunbeam, who immediately took the last of her cupcakes and dashed into the part of the flower bed where the green haired guy said Zenjin often goes to, hoping he'll be there again. Happily enough, Zenjin is there again, acting the same way he's done before. But this time, his eye patch is gone, and the bandages on his leg have been removed. His entire arm is still in a cast, though._

"_Zenjin-san!" Sunbeam called out as she fluttered toward the still emotionless, insouciant boy and descended before him, unwrapping the furoshiki and opening the box to show him the two remaining cupcakes. "I made cupcakes! Do you want to try one?" Sunbeam asked politely, her face radiant with expectation._

_Like all of the other times, Zenjin showed absolutely no response, causing Sunbeam's ears to droop a bit. "Well, if you don't want any, that's okay. I can still make lots more, since I finally mastered the recipe," Sunbeam told him. But she was quite oblivious to something as she talked, and all it took was a movement of a hand to see it._

_Zenjin's hand. It's moving toward the box. His arm and hand are trembling, but he grabbed one of the cupcakes, pulled the aluminum foil off of the bottom part, threw it next to him, and took a rather big bite out of the cupcake, swallowing quite a good chunk of the lime green frosting and the chocolate chip on top. Sunbeam couldn't believe her eyes. After all this time, he finally responded to something she did, even if it's not with words! They do say actions speak louder than words after all, though she had to wonder if the saying about the best way into a man's heart is through their stomach was true as well, considering he never responded to anything she did until now. As she ruminated and found herself floating on a cloud of happiness, Zenjin consumed the entire cupcake, with traces of lime green frosting dappled around his mouth and cheeks._

_Sunbeam couldn't help but giggle. "Heehee. You've got frosting on your face," Sunbeam told him sweetly as she pointed to her face. Silently, Zenjin poked the icing on his face, scooped it onto his fingers, and sucked on them._

"_Do you like it?" Sunbeam asked._

_Zenjin didn't say anything, like expected. Sunbeam didn't mind at all. She's used to it by now, and she knew better than to force it. But yet another surprise appeared before her big blue eyes. Zenjin flashed a small smile. And nodded in gratitude despite his eyes still looking more lifeless than a mannequin. Just seeing these little gestures made Sunbeam squeal like a happy Elvis fangirl, her plump ears shot into the air and her blue eyes shone brighter than the starry sky._

"_Yaaay! I'm sooooo happy you like it! Thank you thank you thank you!" Without knowing it, Sunbeam found herself flying into Zenjin's chest and nuzzling his shirt like an overly happy puppy, also not cognizant of the fact that his previously listless eyes grew a little big with surprise. But that didn't matter to Sunbeam. She's just happy her efforts to befriend him paid off, even the tiniest little bit, even if it's not what she expected. She didn't mind at all. If he's happy, then she's happy. He liked her cupcakes. He smiled and nodded in gratitude, albeit rather slowly. This made her cup of happiness overflow like a tsunami, and it made her the happiest fairy alive._

(end flashback)

But that was long ago. Now, instead of being the happiest, most joyous, most cheerful, most loving, most enlightened fairy alive, Sunbeam is now the saddest, most broken, most somber, most dejected, and most abject fairy in the world. Instead of her blue eyes shining like the stars in the night sky twinkling happily, they lost all of their shine, drowning in tears that overflowed like the Niagara Falls. Instead of her plump little ears bouncing up and down with glee, they're drooping downward, only swaying side to side when she moved even a little bit, which wasn't much. The revelation that Zenjin never liked her at all and never considered her a friend despite everything she did for him hit her harder than the fastest moving train or the worst earthquake in the whole wide world combined. She cried like she's been crying ever since the beginning of time. Instead of returning her kindness, Zenjin cruelly stomped on her heart and crushed it beyond all repair just with his venomous words and true feelings alone. There was absolutely no way Sunbeam would ever forgive the ungrateful brat for treating her like garbage. But what could she do? Zenjin has the Energia inside of him, so he can do whatever he wanted. Sunbeam's just a little fairy who shoots beams of light and shapeshifts a little, but that's it.

"Sunbeam? Here's dinner," Riko whispered in a soft voice as she gently placed a little plate of food next to the pile of stuffed animals she's crying in. It had been quite a while, but Sunbeam found herself lucid enough to look at the food: some alfredo, chicken, and broccoli. She then looked up at Riko with the saddest face the black haired girl ever saw.

"Riko-chan…" Sunbeam blubbered like a baby. She then dashed into Riko's shirt. "I want a hug! Can I please hug you?! I wanna cry on you!" Sunbeam wailed. Before Riko could answer, Sunbeam already began wailing into her chest. Riko didn't cover her ears, nor did she reject Sunbeam's desperate plea. How could she? That'd be rude and inconsiderate of her. Plus, she couldn't blame Sunbeam for being so sad. All she wanted was to be nice to someone who went through some bad things, to give him some kindness and happiness, things he never received, only to be brutally rejected in the worst ways possible. With a sad smile, Riko held the crying fairy close and stroke her orange fur like how she'd pet her cats, while squeezing her as gently as she wanted. Sunbeam needed a shoulder to cry on, someone to comfort her. Riko didn't mind doing this, but it broke her heart to see poor Sunbeam so sad, so broken, so completely wet with her own tears, her own unrelenting sadness.

After a few more minutes of crying into Riko's shirt, Sunbeam looked up at her with her dejection consumed blue eyes, still shimmering with tears begging to break right out. "Thank you, Riko-chan. At least you're nice to me. I'm sorry for being mean when we first met," Sunbeam blubbered.

"I know. I'm used to people being mean to me, so it's okay," Riko told her gently.

"Huh?" Sunbeam murmured. "You say you're used to it. What does that mean? Have people been mean to you a lot?"

Riko nodded. "Yep. All my life, and it's still going on. People hate me because I'm weird and stupid and not normal like they want me to be, and I mess up at stuff and make things worse when I don't mean to, so I always get yelled at, even when I'm trying to be nice," Riko told her.

"That's stupid! You're new at the whole Pretty Cure thing! We don't expect you to be perfect! Not at all! I know you do your best, and you always have good intentions, so it's okay! Besides, even if you are careful, Zenjin doesn't care and just wants to blow everything up by making those monsters," Sunbeam exclaimed forcefully.

"It's not just the whole Pretty Cure thing. I get yelled at just for...being around, or doing anything. You see how my little sister yells at me all the time, and whenever I do something weird, teachers either yell at me or tell my parents I'm a bad kid when they don't know me," Riko told her.

"That's stupid, too! You're not bad! If you were bad, then you wouldn't be helping us! You wouldn't have taken us in or patched us up! Better yet, you wouldn't even be here comforting me when I need it the most!" Sunbeam piped in.

"Good point," Riko murmured shyly.

"Here's an idea! If anyone's being mean to you or calling you names or stuff like that, you tell me and I'll be ever so glad to give them some good ol' beatdowns!" Sunbeam exclaimed cheerfully as she threw some punches in the air for good measure.

Riko giggled. "Thanks. I'd like that. At least you and Moonbeam like me for who I am and don't misunderstand my intentions."

"Why would we? The Queen said that people only become Pretty Cures if they have good hearts and are willing to help others! But I don't know if that's the only condition, though," Sunbeam piped in.

"You'd better eat dinner. I don't want you to go hungry," Riko told her.

A rumbling sound echoed in the room, and it came right from Sunbeam's stomach. She blushed and decided to eat. "I am getting hungry, so thanks for the food!" Sunbeam said politely before chomping down like a hungry bear. She's had a rough day, so Riko thought she deserved a good meal to fill her tiny, pudgy little belly, even though she knew it wouldn't fill up her broken heart.

"I finished mine already," Moonbeam piped in.

"Oh! Do you have any orange juice by any chance?" Sunbeam asked after she ate some noodles.

"We do, but Dad's the only one who drinks it. I don't like it," Riko said. "Why? You want some?"

"Yes please!" Sunbeam said.

"Okay. I'll go get some," Riko said. She left the room, got a plastic cup, opened the orange juice carton, poured a little bit in, closed it back up, put it back, and slowly ambled back to her room so she wouldn't spill any. "Here ya go."

"Thanks, Riko-chan!" Sunbeam said as she ate some broccoli. After that, she took the plastic cup and drank up all the orange juice in one gulp. Riko could tell she's starting to look a little better than she was half an hour ago. She felt happy that she finally did something right without getting yelled at for once. Sunbeam really needed it after what Zenjin put her through.

Once they finished, Riko and the fairies played together again like they've done for the past week. All the playing and socializing did a number on them, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. Moonbeam could tell that the pieces of Sunbeam's broken heart began to very slowly put themselves back together, little by little. Once night fell, they went right to sleep, dreaming whatever they liked dreaming about. Soon, Monday night turned into Tuesday morning. Much to Riko's surprise, she still has to go to school despite the brouhaha that happened yesterday. It turns out only the science room is off limits until it's repaired, so the kids still have to come to school like usual. They were not happy about it. Some of them even complained quite loudly, but they knew complaining wouldn't solve anything, so they just dredged through the school day.

School was normal, like usual, other than the fact that Riko actually invited Marina to sit at their lunch table, much to Kyoya's surprise. But he could tell she's beginning to turn over a new leaf, so he decided to not make a big scene about it. But Riko did notice that Fukiko, the girl Kyoya doesn't seem to like for some reason who got trapped in the debris, actually came to school. Her leg is in bandages, not a cast, so it doesn't look like her injury is as serious as she thought. But Fukiko still watched them from time to time, her yearning hazel eyes curious as to what they're chatting about, like she wanted to join them but was debating whether she should or not. Riko thought about inviting her, but she didn't know anything about her, especially not what she liked or disliked, and Kyoya, from the way he acted when Anzu brought her up last time, didn't seem too keen on having anything to do with her, so she decided against it and went about the rest of the day.

Since the science room is off limits until it's repaired, which the kids could tell would most likely take a while since it's covered with yellow _DO NOT CROSS_ signs, Mr. Amane thought it'd be a good idea to have class outside on the blacktop to learn about how the sun helps plants grow and thrive. Although the kids were happy about it, they did wish they could play around and do whatever they wanted. Funnily enough, Riko found herself next to Fukiko, who shared her class to begin with, and even sat at the same table, but they hardly ever interacted. Not until now, that is.

"Hey. You're Tasogare, right?" Fukiko whispered suddenly.

"Huh?" Riko couldn't help but feel a little surprised and perplexed by Fukiko being next to her. "Uhh...yeah. I am."

"That's a cute shirt," Fukiko whispered. Confused, Riko looked down at her short sleeved white shirt with five rows of little tiny ruffles going down from the top vertically.

"You mean this? Thanks," Riko replied shyly. "My mom got it for me," Then she noticed Fukiko's bandaged leg. "Does your leg hurt? You sure were stuck in there good."

"Yeah. It did like you wouldn't believe. But it's not broken, thank goodness for that, and it feels much better than before. I'm just glad Amane-sensei helped me when he did," Fukiko explained quietly, then noticed a little doodle in one of Riko's notebooks. A little round cat face with ears and a tail with dot eyes and a little 3-shaped mouth. "Aww, that's so cute! You like drawing?"

"Yes. I do," Riko replied shyly. _'We're in the middle of class! I know you wanna talk, but we need to listen to the teacher or we'll get in trouble, and could you scooch back a little?'_ Riko thought. She really wanted to say this, but she didn't want to get in trouble with Mr. Amane.

"By the way, you're friends with Mitomo-kun, right?"

"Yes," Riko whispered.

"You're not freaked out by his being in a wheelchair?"

Riko didn't like what that question implicated. "No. Do I need to be?" Riko whispered back.

"No, but-"

"Dounowaki!" Mr. Amane suddenly exclaimed, causing the brown haired girl to go, "Eep!" in surprise, drawing her attention back to him.

"Yes?"

"It's good you like chatting with your friends and all, but would you be so kind as to save it for after class? The lesson is still going on," Mr. Amane told her gently but sternly. Some kids laughed a bit.

Fukiko closed her eyes and let her shoulders slump. "Yes, sir."

Riko exhaled a sigh of relief, happy that Mr. Amane saved her from more of her palavering, well intentioned as it is. She continued to take notes like she usually does, throwing in the occasional doodle here and there. But something about one of her questions didn't sit right with Riko. _"You're not freaked out by his being in a wheelchair?"_ Riko didn't like how it sounded. Was she implying that she doesn't like Kyoya BECAUSE he's in a wheelchair? If she was, Riko could understand Kyoya not liking her. But it didn't sound like she asked it in a mean or condescending way. It sounded more curious than malicious. Soon, class went on like usual, and so did the rest of the school day. Finally, school ended, and Saki came to pick her and Rina up. But they didn't go home right away.

"Awww! We have to go food shopping with you?!" Rina whined petulantly once Saki told her.

"Yes, girls. Sorry you have to come with me right after school. Arinao's at work and I had too much to do today, so I figure we might as well do it now," Saki told her.

Riko didn't seem to mind at all, though she did wish Saki told her in advance so she could tell Moonbeam and Sunbeam in advance so they wouldn't worry. But then again, they're probably out searching for their sister, so she didn't think it to be that big a deal. Not only that, she actually liked going food shopping with her mom, looking for whatever they needed in the aisles, listening to the music that played over the intercoms, pushing the rusty silver shopping carts around, and looking at everything. But there is one problem, however.

"Why does Riko have to come?! Can't she stay home?! She's just gonna ruin everything like she always does whenever we go out!" Rina complained loudly for all to hear, unabashedly pointing to her bewildered older sister with her index finger.

'You're_ the one who ruins everything whenever we go out by shouting at me all the time!'_ Riko snapped in her head, trying desperately to not say it and make things worse.

"Watch the attitude, missy! I don't want you acting like that while we're out, and I definitely don't want you two arguing or fighting. Is that clear?" Saki scolded sternly.

With a pout, Rina kept her mouth shut. Riko rolled her eyes and looked out the window to stare at the scenery, but not before hearing a whisper. "You better not cry or play pretend or be weird and stupid, 'cause everybody's gonna stare at us!" Rina whispered, but Riko paid no heed, much to the petulant little seven year old's chagrin.

For the most part, the shopping trip went by just fine. Saki and the girls got some necessities they needed, like toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, carrots, broccoli, bananas, apples, crescent rolls, strawberry and vanilla cream flavored yogurt (Riko likes vanilla cream, Rina likes strawberry), bags of dinner, microwavable soups, spinach, green beans, fruit flavored popsicles, crackers, chicken, eggs, milk, and coffee cream. In one aisle, Riko went to grab a jar of peanut butter when a jar next to it fell off of the shelf and rolled on the floor. Riko caught it in the nick of time.

"Hey! Don't knock stuff over, stupid! You'll break it!" Rina yelled for all to hear, causing people to turn around and take some glances. Nothing malicious or pitying, just curious as to what the yelling is about. "Mom! Riko knocked over a peanut butter jar!"

"Rina! Use your inside voice," Saki whispered as Riko put the peanut butter jar in the shopping cart, unfazed by Rina's acting out. "It's in a jar. Plastic jars don't break. Don't yell or people will stare!"

"But she always knocks stuff over, and people stare anyway! She's dumb and weird!" Rina snapped back.

"Don't take that attitude with me, missy! If you yell and call your sister names again, you won't get the new Barbie dollhouse or watch any TV for the rest of the night. Do you understand?" Saki whispered sternly.

Rina pouted and kept her mouth shut after that. But she started talking again when they passed the snack aisle, full of bags of potato chips, cheese curls, any kind of junk food that could be put in a bag. Rina immediately grabbed a big bag of bright orange cheese curls the same shade as Marina's hair. "Mom! Can we get this please?" Rina asked.

"No, Rina. We're not getting any more junk food in the house. It's bad for you. Now put it back where you found it," Saki told her calmly but firmly, not wanting to give in to Rina's demands and change in demeanor. Rina pouted again and angrily threw the bag back on the shelf. Soon, it was time to pay for the food. Saki, Riko, and Rina found a line that didn't seem very long, as only one person was there who just put his food on the processor. The cashier checked in everything while someone else put the food in the bags.

Riko had been used to seeing this for about a month now, but what she noticed about the bagger is that she didn't look like everyone else. Her pale, sunny blonde hair is perfectly straight, goes down to her shoulders, and looks a little stringy. Her head is a lot rounder than usual, her eyes are small, almond shaped, and closer to her nose than usual despite being hidden by a pair of small, round glasses, and she certainly looked a little on the plump side. But the woman looked quite cheerful and merry, packing the groceries of the gruff male customer like she enjoyed it. _'Does she have Down Syndrome?'_ Riko thought to herself innocently. She wanted to ask, but she knew it'd be rude, inappropriate, and insensitive to do so, and it was bad enough she got yelled at for everything else she did, so she decided against it. She couldn't help but wonder though. There weren't any problems, despite the line going a little slow.

Unfortunately, a problem did arise.

"Come on! Can't you go any faster?!" A gruff male customer with a little beard suddenly shouted out of nowhere, making everyone but the bagging lady gasp. The lady bagging his groceries didn't seem to notice. Or maybe she acted like she didn't notice. She's just focused on bagging his groceries as carefully as she could, taking care not to crush the eggs.

Choleric, the bearded man grabbed a bag and began putting groceries in myself. "See how I do it? I can do it just fine, idiot!" The bearded man yelled. Riko covered her ears, not liking how loud he's being.

"Would you keep it down, please?" The cashier said as the blonde lady put more groceries in his bag.

"Ugh! I don't have time for this! I have a meeting to go to right after this!" The man grumbled to himself in a low voice. He suddenly turned to Saki. "Can you believe these people hire retards like them? I don't see why we gotta put up with them! They always make our lives difficult! They're slow and stupid and always ruin everything! They got places for them, don't they?"

Out of nowhere, Saki suddenly slammed her hand on the side of the counter, her eyes aglow with a very appalled and angry gleam, causing Riko to squeeze her hands onto her ears. Now Saki's the one who's choleric. Even Rina couldn't help but stare in bewilderment. "Y'know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use that vulgar language in front of me, my kids, or the nice lady packing your groceries! So what if she has a disability or is a little slow?! She's doing just fine, no thanks to you!" Saki snapped like she wanted to deck the guy despite how gruff and tough he looks.

"Come on! Get outta my face, lady!" The gruff man snapped, cowed by her sudden change in temper.

"I'll get out of your face if you stop being an idiot! People with disabilities have feelings, y'know?! Just like you and me and everyone else here, and here you go acting like you're the big boss around here! I'm not gonna sit here and let you talk like that to this woman the way you're doing, because if anything, _you're_ the one with the problem, not her!" Saki yelled, the fire in her heart still blazing passionately.

"You tell'em, woman!" One customer yelled from afar.

"If you have a problem, you'd better get out if you know what's good for you, because you do NOT want to cross this mother!" Saki snapped as she wagged her finger at the gruff man like he was an unruly child she's trying to discipline.

"Okay okay! Fine! Jeez, can't I just get my groceries already?" The man said once the receipt got printed out of the cash register. After that, he got his groceries and walked right out gruffly pushing his shopping cart, obviously looking very perturbed.

Saki's choleric expression immediately dissipated, and she looked at the woman with soft hearted concern. "You alright, miss? Sorry I had to get so loud. You're doing just fine," Saki told her kindly.

The woman smiled. "Ish okay. Thanks. I just ignore people like him. I get talk like that sometimes, but I dun let it bother me," The woman told him in a nice but slightly slurred voice, but not so slurred that nobody can understand what she was saying.

"You're welcome. Girls? After this, we're going to see the store manager and tell him about this," Saki said once the cashier began processing her groceries.

"What?! But I wanna go home!" Rina complained. Saki paid her no heed. Soon, one the groceries were processed, she asked the cashier where the store manager is, and she directed them to a little room not far from the exit. Once they got there, they saw the man in charge, and Saki told him about the incident. The man smiled when she finished.

"Thanks for reporting this, ma'am. If the man ever comes back, we'll make sure he doesn't insult Shiratori-san again," The manager told her kindly.

"It just broke my heart to see him pick on her like that. I don't want my kids growing up into people like him, and they saw the whole thing. Plus, my middle child is autistic and she's been through a lot of that kind of verbal abuse, so I felt I had to intervene," Saki told him.

"We're glad you did. Not very many people report these kinds of incidents to us, so it's good that you did. Izumi-chan's one of our best employees, and we love her very much. She's worked hard to get where she is now. Again, thanks for reporting this. Have a good day," The manager said. Soon, Saki and the girls left with their shopping cart full of groceries. Riko helped Saki put the grocery bags in the trunk, then took the cart into the place where they keep shopping carts all by herself. As soon as she finished that, she leaped into the back seat.

"Why'd you have to yell back there? People were staring," Rina asked curiously with her arms crossed as Riko put her seatbelt on. Riko couldn't believe that even after all of that, Rina is still more concerned about people staring at them than an innocent person getting picked on by a closed-minded bully.

"Because that man was being mean to the nice lady. This is why I keep telling you not to pick on Riko! I don't want you or her growing up to be like him. Would you like it if someone yelled at you for being who you are?" Saki told her.

"No," Riko mused before Rina could answer.

"That's why you should never judge people by their looks," Saki said when she started the car. After that, they drove back home.

* * *

"Have a good day, Izumi-chan!" One of the cashiers chirped kindly. The lady from before, Izumi, grabbed her flowery pink purse and turned toward the cashier with a contorted but merry smile on her face.

"Bye bye, Suzaki-san!" Izumi waved to her cashier friend and proceeded to skip out the door rather happily, completely unfazed by the rude bearded man's comments from earlier. It's like she was never insulted in the first place.

After she left the store, she walked to a nearby bus stop, sat on the porch, pulled out a book, and read it contentedly, without a care in the world. After about a few minutes, a screeching noise pulled her out of her book, and she looked up to find a big bus in front of her. She put her book away, pulled out her flower themed wallet, pulled out a few dollars, and walked onto the bus. She greeted the bus driver politely as usual, told her the name of her desired destination, and put her money in the glass box. The bus is extremely empty save for only a select few people, which was quite odd considering its usually quite full. But she didn't mind at all. In fact, this made the trip a lot better. It's definitely very roomy, with long, horizontal seats going parallel with the windows, with a few normal seats here and there. She sat down onto an empty seat in front of a window, put her seatbelt on, pulled her book out again, and allowed herself to be absorbed into its magical pages, taking her away from the noisy sirens polluting the air, the sound of the bus's motor, and the radio blaring away. Unlike in the store, nobody paid any attention to her or made her look like something unusual. After about ten or so minutes, the bus stopped.

"Yokota Avenue! Yokota Avenue!" The bus driver called out, pulling Izumi out from the beautiful confines of her book again.

"Dat's me!" Izumi said as she put her book into her purse, undid her seatbelt, and walked toward the doors, but not before giving the bus driver a kind thank you. After that, she skipped onto the bus stop and watched the bus leave. She saw the female bus driver waving back at her with a sweet smile, so she waved right back, with a big smile of her own.

After that, she walked down the street of a little neighborhood with a light heart, humming happily to herself and skipping on the sidewalk like a little kid after a successful first day of school. There's practically nobody else outside, so she could do whatever she wanted and not have to worry about getting stared at, jeered at, or derided at. But even if she did get verbally abused again like the bearded man did to her, she wouldn't pay any attention anyway. _'Ignore the bad stuff, focus only on the good!'_ Izumi thought as she skipped down the sidewalk. Soon, she found herself within the vicinity of a creamy white house that looked like it had been painted with mashed potatoes, not that she hated mashed potatoes. In fact, she loves mashed potatoes. Once she found herself within the house's vicinity, she stopped skipping and ambled onto the porch. She dug through her purse and pulled out a brass house key with lots of anime character keychains dangling from it like wind chimes. She put the key into the whole, turned it, and opened the door.

"I'm home!" Izumi exclaimed once she came into the house and pulled her key out of the keyhole with little difficulty.

"Whoa! Is that you, Izumin?" A young man's voice called out from the living room. Once Izumi put her coat into the closet, out came a rather youngish-looking man in his early to mid twenties with a mop of spiky raven black hair and radiant ocean blue eyes, wearing a maroon shirt underneath a black jacket with cream colored fur on the hood, dark blue jean pants, and brown boots. "You're home early! Welcome back!" The man exclaimed as he hugged Izumi.

"Hi, Takeru!" Izumi chirped back as she embraced him back. Soon, the man, Takeru, kissed her on the cheek and released her from his embrace. "Is everyfin okay here?"

"Yep! Come on in! You're probably dead tired. I bought some orange juice earlier today, so hopefully that'll help," Takeru said as Izumi put her purse on the couch. "I'll make dinner in a bit," He added.

"Aww, dat's so sweet!" Izumi crooned sweetly. "Where's Sayo-chan?"

"She's in the dining room," Takeru told her. Right after that, a microwave in the kitchen made a long _BEEEP_ sound. "Oh! The formula's ready!" Takeru said as he scrambled to the microwave and pulled out a baby bottle full of some kind of baby formula.

"I'll do dat for you. Ish dat okay?" Izumi told him as she took the warm bottle and ambled into the dining room to find a little crib next to the dining room table, with a pudgy little baby inside, with a mop of little golden locks dangling from her large, round head, donning a pale cotton candy pink and cloud white onesie with little white bunny rabbits embroidered all over it. The baby, Sayo, cooed a little once Izumi leaned over to pick her up gently.

"Hi Sayo-chan! Mommy's home! Here's some nice yummy formula!" Izumi crooed as she cradled her cooing baby in her arms, picked up the warm bottle, sat on a chair, and slowly gave Sayo her formula. Sayo took it without a fuss and began drinking it up. "Good girl! Dun drink too fast," Izumi crooned, praising her baby for actually accepting the formula. It didn't look like she disliked it, which made Takeru let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! It seems I got the temperature right. Thank goodness," Takeru said.

"How haff you been since I've been away, Take-chan?" Izumi asked as she continued feeding Sayo, who was already in happyland drinking her bottle contentedly, without a care in the world.

"I'm feeling kinda tired, but it's nothing too serious. Sayo-chan really knows how to keep me on my toes, and she can't even walk yet!" Takeru said once he sat down on an empty chair with her.

"I notice you washed the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher! Thanks!" Izumi told him with a smile.

"You're welcome. I just ran it earlier today, and I'm leaving the dishwasher open so the humidity gets out," Takeru told her, pointing to the dish washer. "I'll put them away when I can. I better get dinner started," Takeru said as he got up from his chair and ambled into the kitchen.

"But aren'cha tired from takin' care of Sayo all day?" Izumi asked when she finished giving Sayo her formula.

"Nah! Makin' dinner's nothing I can't handle. Oh! By the way, my sister called. She and my mom aren't too far from here, so they'll be here in about fifteen or so minutes," Takeru said as he went into his freezer and grabbed a bag of vegetables from it. Sayo suddenly began whimpering a little, causing Izumi's plump face to have concern painted on it.

"What's wrong, Sayo?" Izumi asked as Sayo let out a wail. Izumi unknowingly took a whiff of the air around her, and that pretty much gave her the answer she needed. "Ohh. You need a new one. I'll take you upstairs," Izumi said gently as she took Sayo up to her room, while at the same time patting her back gently so she can burp, which she did.

Izumi went into her daughter's cheery-looking bedroom and gently placed her onto the changing table. She found the bag where the baby's diapers are in, pulled out a fresh one, and proceeded to remove the soiled one. She put it in the trash can, wiped her baby down, sprinkled baby powder on her, and put the fresh diaper on her. Sayo already began cooing once the process was complete. _'This is the only thing I don't like about taking care of babies, but it's not their fault. It's what they do. Once they're old enough, we won't have to do it anymore,'_ Izumi thought as she put Sayo in her crib and sang a dulcet, lofty little lullaby despite sounding a little bit slurred. Soon, Sayo's eyes felt heavy, and they closed before she could coo again. With a smile, Izumi washed her hands in the bathroom and went back into the dining room. Takeru already had dinner going, but he felt free to just sit down with Izumi so they can relax and talk. Izumi told him about what happened earlier today.

"Sorry that had to happen to ya. I swear, if I ever see that guy, I'm gonna give him a good beatdown!" Takeru said, punching his fist into his palm.

"Now now, Take-chan. No need for dat. But a nice lady yelled at him and he left. I just ignored him the whole time," Izumi told him.

"That's good. But still, it's so stupid how people just outright assume you're stupid and slow when you're really not and act like they know you better than you yourself do. Seriously, people need to stop acting so dumb!" Takeru exclaimed.

"I agree. But I'm okay! I'm just happy havin' you and Sayo-chan in my life, and my mom sed I shuddnt let anyfin get me down!" Izumi told him and gave him a little peck on the cheek, making him blush a little, but not in an embarrassed way.

_Pin pin pong_ went a doorbell.

"Oh! That must be them!" Takeru shouted as he shot up from the couch and ran to the front door. When he opened it, he found a woman a little younger than he, with long, wavy, scraggly pale brown hair trailing all around her radiant face, covered with a yellow and white bandana and radiant brown eyes, wearing a grey unzipped hoodie over a sleeveless red top and skinny pale blue jeans that looked more white than blue. She's also wearing black slip-on shoes and has a green tassel purse over her shoulder.

"Hiiii Takeru!" The girl exclaimed as she hugged Takeru.

"Mayumi! You made it, lil sis!" Takeru exclaimed as he hugged his sister, Mayumi, just like how he did Izumi earlier. Soon they released each other and Mayumi came into the house.

"Wooow, this is your house? It's so lovely!" Mayumi said as she found herself in awe of their house until she laid eyes on Izumi, who came to greet her.

"Hello!" Izumi chirped politely.

"Ohh! You must be his wife, Izumi-chan! It's so nice to meet you! Takeru's told me so much about you!" Mayumi proclaimed enthusiastically as she unabashedly shook one of Izumi's plump hands.

"I'll go and get Mom," Takeru said with a smile as he left to go and help his mother out of the car.

"Goodness gracious, I really don't understand how Mayumi can have so much energy," An old woman in a dark green kimono said as she closed the door to her black Mercedez Benz.

"Hi, Mom!" Takeru piped in before squeezing his mother. The woman has short, frizzy, dark grey hair which didn't look like it lost all of its shine yet and eyes just like his.

"Hello, Takeru. It's so good to see you again, my boy," Takeru's mother said as she returned the hug.

"Glad you could make it. Oh! You gotta come on in! I'll introduce you to my ever so lovely wife!" Takeru said as he escorted his mother onto the porch.

"She must be a real keeper if you have the audacity to say something like that," Takeru's mother told her son jokingly. "But there's no need to dote on me. I'm not senile and I don't plan on it either. My, what a lovely house you have. It's exactly as you described it!"

Takeru and his mother came into the house. As soon as they came in, Takeru's mother took her geta shoes off and began looking around anxiously. Right next to Izumi, no less, acting like she didn't even notice her.

"What'cha lookin' for, Mom?" Takeru asked, confused.

"Your wife, of course! Didn't you say she'd be here?" Takeru's mother asked.

"Umm...this is her," Takeru said, pointing to Izumi, who gave a polite bow.

"Hello," Izumi said. Her mother-in-law's smile immediately faded as she saw her.

"Oh no no no! She can't possibly be Izumi! She must be her sister or something. Now where is Izumi anyway?" Takeru's mother asked, making their eyes widen a little.

"Mom. This IS Izumi," Mayumi piped in. Their mother suddenly began to look grim.

"You're kidding, right? _This_ is your wife?" Their mother asked grimly, perplexed by Izumi's odd appearance.

"Yeah. I told you about her in my letters. Remember?" Takeru told her, not liking the condescending expression on her face when she asked if Izumi was really his wife. Izumi's smile faded, and the atmosphere began to grow tense. Soon, Takeru's mother began staring daggers at a flummoxed Izumi.

"Since you're his wife, I suppose you'd better get to preparing dinner. You cannot disappoint your guests," Takeru's mother told her sternly, like she was the head of the house, not Izumi, who continued to grow more and more confused.

"I'm making dinner," Takeru piped in.

"Ehh?!" Takeru's mother yelped. "We need to talk!" She grabbed Takeru by the arm and they went into another room. She literally dragged him there like he was a very naughty child, and despite being old, her grip is quite strong.

"Mom. Why are you acting so weird?" Takeru asked when his mother dragged him into Izumi's room.

"Me? Weird? You told me your wife is the loveliest person ever! You said you married a beautiful woman, and here I find that you're married to a mongoloid!" Takeru's mother snapped back.

"Don't EVER say that word in front of me OR my wife! So what if she's disabled? I told you that in my letters, didn't I?" Now Takeru was the one staring daggers at her, his ocean blue eyes beginning to allow fire to dance within them.

"I thought you were joking! You're seriously planning to spend the rest of your life with someone who's just going to ruin it? I raised you to be a good man so you can achieve great things, and here you are slaving away with an idiot wife who doesn't look like she can do a thing around the house! You're causing this family a lot of shame, Takeru!"

"She's not an idiot, Mom! She's awesome, and she can do just as much as we can! Why do you think she's retarded just because she was born with something she didn't want? Just because she's disabled doesn't mean she's stupid or incapable of functioning on her own!"

"I can't believe it's come to this! First everybody sits on their butts to let technology to do everything and now they're allowing people like that idiot girl to run our cities! You wonder why our society is deteriorating! Takeru. Divorce that idiot girl. All she's going to do is ruin your life. You deserve to go to college and do great things."

"No. I am NOT divorcing her, and I'm not gonna let you treat her the way you're doing!"

"Oh. I see how it is. You married her out of pity. This is what happens when you let your emotions get the better of you, Takeru."

"No I didn't! I didn't invite you here so I can watch you treat my wife like she's some sort of abomination!"

"You said you're cooking dinner! It's a wife's job to be the one to take care of her husband, not the other way around!"

"Well, times have changed, Mom. I don't mind doing the cooking and cleaning and taking care of the baby. I enjoy it, and for the record, Izumi's got a job and she's very good at it, too! Talk to her employees and manager! They praise her up the wazoo!"

"Probably out of sympathy or pity. People shouldn't even have to look at her. I have to wonder what her family is thinking, raising her when the world isn't fit for people like them."

"Mom! You don't seriously think that stuff, do you?!" Mayumi suddenly piped in, appalled by her mother's obstinacy and venomous words. "So what if she's not perfect? She's super nice, and if they can raise a kid in a house like this, then she's no different from us or everyone else!"

"No one asked for your opinion, Mayumi. Takeru. Divorce that girl. She'll only bring misfortune on both you and this family. Why'd you have to drop out of college and marry her? You could have gotten a degree! I pay for you to go to college and this is how you repay me, by being a slave to a brain dead shell of a person!"

"Well excuse me for making my own decisions and doing what makes me happy! And I didn't choose to go to college! You forced me to go, and I kept on telling you I didn't want to go, but did you listen to me? No! You just kept on making all my decisions for me! Stop treating me like a child, Mom! I love Izumi, and I'm happy with her!"

"He's right, Mom. Don't be so uptight about this. She's not bad, and you shouldn't judge people by their looks. You'd be surprised at how many disabled people are successful and world-renowned and more functional than some of us are," Mayumi piped in, obviously on Takeru's side, happily for him. But this only disgusted their mother even more.

"Does anyone have any coffee? I could really use some after that tedious drive," Takeru's mother asked grimly.

"I'll go get some at the store," Izumi piped in. She grabbed her purse, put on her shoes and coat, and out the door she went.

"Izumi!" Takeru tried to go after her, but she was already out the door.

"Oh, leave her be. She's not worth it," Takeru's mother piped in.

"Mother! How can you be so selfish and inconsiderate?!" Mayumi snapped, appalled by how insensitive and crass her mother is being.

"You're the ones who are selfish and inconsiderate!" Her mother snapped back, herself appalled by how rebellious her fully grown children are being, displaying a profound lack of understanding for their plight.

As for Izumi, she tried to smile as she walked on the sidewalk toward the nearest convenience store, which isn't very far on foot, luckily for her, but her normally light and happy heart now became consumed by a tsunami of sadness. Her glasses blurred, and her almond shaped eyes stared down at the concrete she's walking on, blurring a little. Her mother-in-law's cruel words replayed in her head like a tape recorder. Idiot girl. Mongoloid. A brain dead shell of a person. She should be the one doing the cooking and housekeeping life a normal wife should. Treating Takeru like a slave. She can't do anything. What does she know about Izumi and her life and what she's capable of? Nothing, that's what. What gives her the right to act like she knows what Izumi is and what she can and can't do? So what if Izumi herself is disabled? Izumi finally made it to the convenience store, but she didn't go inside. She stopped a little ways from the door.

"...It's not like I want to have Down Syndrome...I can do lots of things...and Takeru loves me for me, not out of...pity or sympafee," She muttered to herself, a single tear slithering down the left side of her face.

* * *

"We've been out a long time, haven't we?" Starbeam asked as she, Moonbeam, and Sunbeam sat on the rooftop of a convenience store, away from the eyes of the shoppers down below. Moonbeam and Sunbeam both let out some very exhausted sighs.

"Longer than usual," Sunbeam piped in.

"It's been a week now, and Lovebeam is nowhere to be found. I'm getting really worried," Moonbeam mused sadly. "I really hope she isn't...y'know."

"I don't think so. If she were, we'd feel it," Sunbeam said. "Besides, this is Lovebeam we're talking about. She wouldn't let anything get her that easily. Heck, she even uses her screechy whining as a weapon, and that's proven pretty useful in the past. Besides, she's probably just a little farther away from us. We can't assume the worst."

"I know. But I can't help it. I'm so worried. If anything happened to her...I'd never forgive myself!" Moonbeam whimpered, her long ears drooping downward.

"Me too. But I think we should retire for today. We're very exhausted, and if we go past our limit, the repercussions would be perilous," Starbeam told them.

"I agree. Let's go back home for now. I don't want Riko getting worried," Sunbeam said.

"We ought to replenish our energy first before we venture back home," Starbeam told them.

"I do wonder how that police officer is doing. I hope he's alright, too," Moonbeam mused. Then she looked down and saw Izumi coming out of the convenience store with a small plastic bag in her hand. She couldn't help but look down on her from above.

"What's up, Moonbeam?" Sunbeam asked curiously.

"That girl...she's crying," Moonbeam whispered.

"You can tell even from way up here?" Sunbeam asked. _'Wow. She's good,'_ Sunbeam thought.

"I wonder why she's so sad?" Moonbeam mused as she floated away from the roof of the convenience store. Sunbeam and Starbeam looked at each other, then followed their younger sister to make sure nothing happened to her in the mean time.

Izumi decided to trek back home on foot, dreading going back. Not because of Takeru. She loved him, and as she overheard him say to his austere, obstinate, jingoistic mother, he loves her, and not out of pity or sympathy either. She knew that for sure. But her mother-in-law sure didn't. She made it absolutely clear as crystal that she wanted nothing to do with Izumi simply because she has Down Syndrome, and to her, anyone with Down Syndrome is automatically stupid or retarded, which Izumi knew wasn't true. But still, her mother-in-law's words left some nasty wounds on her heart. She knew it would be inconsiderate to leave her mother-in-law in the house and not treat her like a guest, but even if she is Takeru's mother, why should she have to suck up to her? Izumi wanted nothing to do with people who didn't accept her for who she is, and she resolved not to let any bad words make her lose her sense of individuality.

"_Izumi-chan. There's lots of bad people in this world, people who say mean things to you and act like they know you when they really don't, and even if you tell them otherwise, most of the time they won't listen to you or believe you. But if anyone says mean things to you, ignore them. They're not you. They don't understand that you're a person and have feelings just like they do. But you should never forget that there's just as much good people as there are bad, and those people will always love you, whether you're normal or not. Just keep your head high, keep being you, and live life the way you want to, and don't let what those bad people say get you down. If you live life being all sad and gloomy, you'll never be happy. You'll definitely find people who will love you for who you are no matter what,"_ That's something her mother always told her whenever she was sad or having a bad day, like today. Despite the sadness lingering in her heart, she didn't want it to consume her like a tsunami, so with one of her plump arms, she wiped away her tears. The three fairies watched curiously as she tried to walk back to her house.

"I sense some lingering sadness dwelling within her heart," Starbeam said.

As soon as she said that, however, Moonbeam's long, lilac ears twitched, standing up further than normal. Moonbeam's sterling silver eyes suddenly widened with fear, like saucers. "Oh no!" She yipped.

Sunbeam and Starbeam turned around. "Oh no what?" Sunbeam asked, suddenly curious.

"YEEEK!" A loud scream and the familiar sound of a ray of light being shot at someone made them turn around to find Izumi lying on the concrete of the street, her Soul Portal exposed and bare for all to see, and Zenjin, looking very grim and disgusted, descending before her. Izumi slowly got back on her feet and although she's surprised at the fact that some weirdo just attacked her, she's more surprised by this giant mirror floating in front of her and following her everywhere she went. But she knew Zenjin's trouble just by looking at him, and her anger overtook her surprise.

"Who are you, and whadja do dat for?!" Izumi yelped angrily.

"Where'd he come from?!" Moonbeam yelped with her hands over her mouth.

"Because you're ugly as sin, that's what! You look like trash!" Zenjin told her condescendingly, his words literally filled to the brim with venom, as he snapped his fingers, causing a red wall to appear behind Izumi. As soon as it appeared, glowing gold ropes caught her and strapped her to the wall.

"HELP MEEEEE! SOMEONE'S ATTACKING MEEEEE!" Izumi yelled as loud as she could muster, hoping someone would hear her. If only someone could hear her.

"I'll go tell Riko!" Moonbeam said as she fluttered from the scene faster than a cheetah to find Riko.

"Izumi!" Out from her house burst Takeru, his eyes consumed with both worry and anger. As soon as he laid eyes on Zenjin, Takeru's ocean blue eyes became feral with intent to knock him off his feet. "Get off my wife, you fiend!" He shouted as he charged toward Zenjin like a very ferocious lion about to pounce on its prey.

Zenjin didn't look the least bit fazed. "Go away!" Zenjin mused as he shot a ray of light at the helpless Takeru, sending him flying and falling right on top of both Mayumi and his mother, knocking them all unconscious.

"Take-chan!" Izumi yelled as Zenjin peered into her Soul Portal, then screamed louder than she ever did.

"Lemme at him! Lemme at him!" Sunbeam yelled as she tried to go after Zenjin and give him what he deserved, but Starbeam pulled on her tail, keeping her from doing what she wanted.

"You can't! He's far too dangerous for us! Please, fall back! If you attempt to assail him, you'll only jeopardize the lives of the people here! We are not strong enough to face him!" Starbeam pleaded desperately as she tried to keep Sunbeam from attacking Zenjin, knowing how perilous the repercussions would be for both Izumi and the rest of the neighborhood, especially since they're in a very populated area where they could be seen. But what Starbeam didn't expect was a relatively strong blow to her face, causing her to release Sunbeam's tail. When she finally comprehended what happened, she saw Sunbeam staring daggers at her with her ocean blue eyes, full of rancor.

"Oh, so you're saying you care more about being a coward than the fact that someone's life is in danger, along with everyone else here?! You care more about ME causing a problem than Zenjin, who's messing with someone's soul?! You really ARE heartless, Starbeam!" Sunbeam yelled vehemently, completely misconstruing Starbeam's concern. "If we don't do something, he's gonna put everyone's lives in danger anyway!"

"Hmph! You're so stupid to think you're so special!" Zenjin sneered at the fearful, violated Izumi with rancor filled eyes, similar to Sunbeam's, but for a different reason entirely. "You think being strong and happy will make people like you? That it'll end your suffering? Well, tough nuts, mongoloid! Because you were born a trashy retard mongoloid and you'll die a trashy retard mongoloid! You should never have been born! You're a curse, and I'll show you that your meager existence means nothing to everyone here, especially not me!" Zenjin screamed as he rummaged through her Soul Portal and yanked out her soul, causing her to finally fall unconscious.

"Let! Me! GO!" Sunbeam yelled as she tried to go at him again.

"We have to wait until the Pretty Cures arrive!" Starbeam reasoned desperately.

"Go crazy, Human Trash!" Zenjin yelled, holding Izumi's now corrupted soul in the air. The glass orb glowed black, floating into the air. Soon, it increased in size until it morphed into what appears to be a giant, pitch black ferret with long whiskers and bloody red eyes. Unlike Izumi, who is rather plump but nowhere near overweight, not even obese for that matter, the ferret is surprisingly thin and lean, and as soon as it came into the world, it began sniffing the air like it smelled food.

"Awww, come on, you trash! You're supposed to destroy everything, kill people, and wreak havoc like a crazy maniac! Isn't that what you monsters of the week are supposed to do?!" Zenjin whined petulantly like a little two-year-old, appalled by the giant ferret's content sniffing, and its complete lack of desire to destroy anything or commit genocide like he wanted.

"Jeez, he's such a brat," Sunbeam sneered under her breath.

"That, I agree with," Starbeam piped in.

Suddenly, a blue naginata shot out from the sky and almost impaled Zenjin as he was complaining had he not managed to scramble out of the way. The giant black ferret didn't even see it, as it was still too busy sniffing and scratching its whiskers, completely trapped in its own little world.

"Stop right there, knave!" The bold, booming voice of Cure Starlight echoed from above. Zenjin looked up to see the entire Pretty Cure quartet standing on the roof of one house not far from where the black ferret is, with eyes glinting with courage, without one hint of fear in them. "You should be ashamed of yourself, you callous knave! Playing with people's insecurities and corrupting their souls for your own amusement without any regard for human lives and their privacy is the most atrocious crime ever! Have you no remorse at all?"

"We're here to put you in your place! Meow!" Cure Twilight piped in, echoing Cure Starlight's argument.

"I am the light that will brighten your world, Cure Twilight!"

"I am the lights that illuminate the darkness, Cure Starlight!"

"I am the light that will bring in the new day, Cure Dawn!"

"I am the light that will warm your heart, Cure Dusk!"

"Cut the stupid catch phrases and quit ruining my fun, you trash!" Zenjin yelled as he flew away, not wanting to get involved with the Pretty Cures at the moment.

"HEY! Don't leave! I wanna bash your brains in!" Sunbeam yelled, but he was long gone before she could even land one little smack on him.

Cure Twilight then caught a glance down below. She saw Izumi lying on the concrete, her Soul Portal exposed and bare for all to see, unconscious. Her husband just woke back up.

"Hey! That's the lady who was harassed at the store earlier! That ferret's gotta be her!" Cure Twilight exclaimed, her emerald eyes wide with horror over the revelation that the giant ferret is the nice cashier who was rudely harassed earlier today.

"Hey ferret! Try some of this! Dusk Medley!" Cure Dusk shouted as she fired a flurry of fiery musical notes at the distracted ferret, hoping to knock it down and get it done and over with. However, much to her surprise, without even noticing or looking, the ferret's long tail swished back and forth, causing the fiery music notes to literally disappear into thin air once they made contact.

"What?! No way!" Cure Dusk shouted with disbelief.

"We'd better get its attention so it doesn't destroy the neighborhood! Starlight Kick!" Cure Starlight exclaimed as she leaped into the air, spun around like a top, and managed to land a drop kick on the giant ferret's head, finally pulling it out of its reverie. Soon, it noticed the girls and finally decided to attack them. It slashed at them a few times with its sharp claws, but the girls were agile enough to evade them. Cure Dawn did a few back flips to evade them, landing on the end of the street as she stopped. She pulled out her nunchucks and made them glow in a golden light.

"Dawn Slam!" With gusto, she ran over to the ferret, leaped into the air, and slammed her glowing nunchucks on the ferret's neck, causing it to screech in pain, which made Cure Twilight cover her ears for a bit.

"Be careful! The woman has Down Syndrome!" Cure Twilight called out.

"How do you know?!" Cure Dusk yelped.

"I saw her in the food store earlier!" Cure Twilight shouted back.

"_It's true. I do have Down Syndrome, and there's lots of things I can't do because of it,"_ The ferret moaned in a somber voice as it managed to slash Cure Dusk and knock her into a tree. Cure Starlight grabbed her naginata and stabbed it into the ferret's tail, causing it to screech again, and in addition, causing Cure Twilight to squeeze her hands onto her ears and fall to her knees, cowering. _"But it doesn't mean I can't function on my own! Why does everyone believe that I can't do anything at all just because I'm different from them and have something I don't want?! Not even my husband's family likes me, even though I have a good job and a baby! They don't see me as a person! They just see me as a vegetable who either needs to be fixed so they don't have to look at me like I'm ugly or shouldn't exist! I try so hard, and yet...I don't know if I can take much more of this!"_

'_She feels that way? People really think that about her? And other people, too?'_ Riko thought, managing to hear it despite covering her ears. Some bad memories began creeping into her mind. She saw a grown woman, possibly a teacher, yelling at her with bloodshot eyes, wagging her finger at her. She saw kids her own age, laughing at her, pointing at her, and throwing things at her. She saw the same woman yelling at her parents, and she saw herself crying in a corner. Evil words echoed from within her brain.

"_You're so stupid! You're in the second grade, yet you can't even do simple math problems like these?! Even babies can do better than you can! Why can't you be more like your classmates?! They can do them just fine!"_

"_Retard! You act like a baby! My baby sister's more grown up than you!"_

"_That daughter of yours needs to be in a mental institution! She's incapable of functioning in a mainstream classroom with the way she behaves! How are you raising her? You act like you know best, but you can't even discipline her correctly!"_

"_Nobody will ever be friends with a stupid idiot like you!"_

"_Grow up! Stop being a big baby and be normal, like everybody else!"_

"_No kid your age pretends to be a cat!"_

"_Get over yourself! Nobody will ever like someone like you!"_

"_Just give up. She'll never grow up and function in society. She'll just be a burden to both you and everyone else. Just accept the fact that she's retarded, put her in a facility, and forget about her. We'll all be better off."_

"_It's so pitiful. They have a child who has autism. I hear it's really crippling. She's seven now, right? I wonder if she still wears diapers?"_

Loneliness, abandonment, neglect, the feeling that everybody doesn't see you as a person, just as a broken toy that needs to be fixed so they can feel good. The feeling that no matter how hard you try to overcome the sadness, the worse it becomes, and you just want to give up. Riko knew those horrible, crippling feelings all too well. In a way, everyone else might be feeling them as well, in their own ways.

"You're here now, aren't you?!" Cure Twilight suddenly shouted as she got her Twilight Ring out. Cure Dawn landed some good punches on the ferret's body, causing it to fall on the concrete. Some people began running for their lives, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, fearing their houses could be destroyed.

"Hey! It's that stupid cat girl who messed up part of another neighborhood!" One man shouted.

"Get moving, you!" Marina yelled as she pushed the man into the crowd. Then she got her bow and arrow out and aimed it at the ferret, who's busy trying to scratch Cure Starlight, but the latter has her naginata blocking its claws. "Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Releasing the arrow, it flew right into the ferret's back, causing flames to encase it, though not for long.

"I know how you feel, Miss Cashier! I'm sorry I don't know your real name, but I get what you're feeling! I'm autistic, but everyone thinks I'm some bad kid who causes trouble for everyone and doesn't have any feelings! I know what it's like to keep trying to face hardships only to feel like it's too much! You just said you have a job, a husband, and a baby, right? Not very many disabled people can do what you can do! So what if you have Down Syndrome? I don't think you're broken or can't function! If you can have a job, a husband, and a baby, then you're just fine!" Cure Twilight called out as the ferret yanked the arrow out of its back and threw it back to Cure Dusk, who caught it like it was a baseball.

"Starlight Shower!" To make sure the ferret didn't attack Twilight, Starlight unleashed her rain of glowing blue stars, causing the black ferret to cower and cover its eyes so none of the stars can hurt it. But that proved to be rather redundant considering the falling stars are scratching its body.

"_I'm just so sick of it all! I just want to live my life and be me! I'm sick of everybody saying I can't do anything or function at all just because I have Down Syndrome! They don't know me! They're not me, so what makes them think they know better than me?!"_ The ferret cried abjectly.

"You're right. They're not you, so screw them! Show the world you can do everything everyone else can anyway! Ready for awesome finishing purification move time, girls?" Cure Twilight exclaimed.

With a twirl of her naginata, Cure Starlight stood like a warrior once she held it like an old soldier would a long weapon. "Ready!"

Cure Dawn readied her nunchucks. "Ready!"

"Aw! I wanted to say that!" Cure Dusk complained when she readied her bow and arrow again.

"Twilight Serenade!"

"Starlight Shower!"

"Dawn Flame!"

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!"

All of their attacks consumed the ferret, and it dissintigrated into the air, stripping it all the way down to the now purified glass orb that is Izumi's soul. Once that was finished, the girls changed back to their normal forms.

"Can I put it back in her body this time?" Anzu asked Riko.

"Sure! Just be extra careful though," Riko told her. Anzu smiled, swiftly walked over to the orb, and very gently picked it up.

"Izumi! Izumi! Wake up, Izumi!" Takeru, having woken up, shook his unconscious wife's body like crazy, his blue eyes drowning in a tsunami of worry and concern for his wife's welfare.

'_So that's her name. Izumi-san...'_ Riko thought.

"Oh, stop wasting your time groveling over that addle-brained twat! You're better off marrying someone who's actually capable of contributing to society," Takeru's mother told him coldly, finally setting him off.

"Why don't you shut up for once?! You know what?! If you can't accept my marriage and my wife for who she is, I'll cut you off and never acknowledge you as my mother again!" Takeru screamed vehemently, frightening Riko into covering her ears.

His mother's eyes became wide as saucers. "Why I never-"

"He's right, y'know. She's not perfect, but you can't change her, Mom. Takeru already married her, and you can't make the decisions for him, and Izumi's really nice from what I've seen. So what if she has a disability? It doesn't mean she's incapable of doing anything. You should be happy for him and acknowledge that Izumi's a person too. She HAS feelings, y'know," Mayumi told her as Anzu dropped Izumi's soul into her Soul Portal. After that, she, the girls, and the fairies left the family to sort things out themselves.

"Yay! We finally defeated a Corrupt Sentinel and didn't destroy anything! Woohoo! Yeah!" Riko cheered, jumped up and down, and spun around before high fiving Anzu, who happily gave one back to her. Marina silently rolled her eyes.

"That was surprisingly easy. Usually the Corrupt Sentinels we fight are a lot tougher," Hotaru mused.

"Either it was weaker than normal or you guys are getting stronger. Those are the only explanations I can come up with," Moonbeam piped in.

Sunbeam didn't look very satisfied, though. She sat on Marina's shoulder with her little arms crossed and her lips puckered out like a duck's beak. "Hmph! I still wish I got to kick Zenjin's sorry butt!"

"Hey Sunbeam. Wanna hang out at my house?" Marina asked with a soft smile.

"Really? Is that okay?" Sunbeam asked, her irritability dissipating into thin air. Marina nodded. "Ohhh! Thanks, Mari-chan!" Sunbeam cheered and hugged her new friend. Everyone else let out some friendly giggles in response.

'_I'm glad we saved her. She deserves it. Maybe I'll say hi to her if Mom and I ever go back to the food store. I should make that a habit. Maybe we can be friends!'_ Riko thought. Who knows? Maybe Izumi would be a lovely friend! Whatever their situation is, Riko figured Izumi can overcome it no problem, if her husband and anyone who loves her are by her side.

Footnotes:

1. Furoshiki are a type of cloth with colorful patterns on them.


	7. Lovebeam is the Brattiest Fairy Ever!

Chapter 7: What a Drama Queen! Lovebeam is the Brattiest Fairy Ever!

The very next day, after school, Riko finally found a good opportunity to ask the question. "Hey Mom?"

"Yes, Riko?" Saki asked, sitting in the family den behind the living room, reading her shiny new kindle, watching an episode of _Say Yes To The Dress_ like she usually does on Wednesday afternoons.

"I was wondering...would it be okay if I invited my friends over this week?" Riko finally asked. Saki's eyes widened a little bit, like she never expected something like this out of her oldest daughter. When Riko saw her expression, she took it as disapproval. "Uhh...if this week doesn't work, that's okay!" She stammered shyly and doubtfully. _'She's gonna say _'we'll see,'_ I know it, and that usually always means no!'_ Riko thought fearfully, already assuming the worst. She could feel her fingers numbing in L-shaped positions, tense with anticipation.

"Sure! That'd be wonderful!" Saki suddenly exclaimed with a radiant smile, her eyes shining like the sunset on the ocean, leaving Riko quite flabbergasted, setting her free from her tense anticipation from before, her fingers regaining movement and out of the L-shapes they were in.

"Really? I can?" Riko asked, unable to comprehend it quite at first since it came so fast.

"I don't see why not. Oh, you've been dreaming for this day to come, haven't you? I'm off work tomorrow, and Ari doesn't start his new job until next Monday, so it'd be lovely if they could come then. But ask if it's okay with them first, sweetie. They might be busy," Saki told her, her smile unchanging.

Riko couldn't believe her ears. Her friends can come over! Saki said yes! Fortune is finally smiling on her at last. As Saki said, Riko's been dreaming for a day like this to come, and she thought she died and went to heaven. Riko couldn't contain the overflowing joy and glee that made her want to burst with happiness. At this point, she didn't care if her mother or sister said it was inappropriate. She was gonna do it and be lost in her happiness. So what if they didn't like it? She didn't care. With a cute, high pitched squeal, she glomped her mother and wrapped her skinny little arms around her. "Ohhhh thank you thank you thank you, Mom! You're the absolute best mother in the whole wide world! I LOVE you!" Riko squealed before planting a very warm and affection-filled kiss on her surprised but happy mother's cheek.

"I love you too, sweetie," Saki smiled back as she returned the loving hug.

"In fact, I oughta call them right now! Where are those phone numbers?!" Riko yelped as she released Saki from her embrace and rushed to her backpack to find the phone numbers Anzu, Kyoya, and Marina gave her. She didn't even notice the fact that she passed right by Rina, who looked at her with quite a shocked and displeased look. Riko is quite oblivious to that too, as she continued to rummage through her backpack without a second thought.

Rina walked into the den. "Did Riko say she's gonna have friends over tomorrow?"

"Yes. Isn't that great, Rina?" Saki replied with a smile.

"She doesn't have any friends!" Rina exclaimed, extremely flabbergasted by such a peculiar, far out idea, her own green eyes widening just as much as Saki's did earlier. Riko? Having friends over? To her, it was as impossible as Riko turning normal. Or aliens coming to take over the world.

"You don't know that," Saki told her, her smile dissipating, donning an expression of stern disappointment over Rina's petulant outburst.

"Yes I do! And people shouldn't come here! She's just gonna be weird and make everybody stare at us and talk about us and say stuff like, _'Ohhh! Rina's sister is a big fat weirdo who screams a lot and pretends she's a cat! That's so babyish!'_ and they'll hate us forever, me especially!" Rina complained petulantly.

"Rina. You should be happy for your sister. She's made friends, and she wants to have them over. If we do have them over, I do not want you saying that stuff or picking on her the whole time. I especially don't want you telling them to go away or stay away from her. It's very rude and inconsiderate. Now behave yourself when they come. Do you understand, young lady?" Saki told her lucidly and calmly, but in an austere tone. Rina wanted to talk back, but she knew better than to palaver on about Riko's deficiencies and the potential disaster she might cause if people came over, so she kept her mouth shut.

* * *

Somewhere else in the neighborhood lies a cobalt blue house with a slanted grey tile roof, with a homemade ramp built onto the front porch. On the left side of the dark brown door is a wooden plaque with the name Mitomo written on it in black Sharpie marker. Inside, Kyoya sat beside the kitchen counter, right next to the phone, sitting impatiently in his electric wheelchair, his arms crossed, his green eyes brimming with impatience but not irritation. Washing the dishes is an older woman with short, scraggly crimson hair of a much darker shade than Kyoya's straight, bright, cherry red hair, and soft, kind looking brown eyes with a chocolate flavored hue.

"You've been sitting by the phone for half an hour now, Kyo-chan. You waiting for someone to call?" The woman asked curiously, finally having had enough of seeing him there and being silent for half an hour straight.

"Yeah, Mom. That girl I told you about. She's invited me to hang out with her, but she said she'd call and let me know if I can or not," Kyoya replied calmly.

"I see. Did she say what time she'd call?" The woman, Kyoya's mother, asked as she put some more wet dishes in the dishwasher and scrubbed down a big plate right afterward.

"Nah, just after school," Kyoya replied again.

Kyoya's mother cracked a smile once she put the plate in the dishwasher. "You've talked about this girl quite a lot. You haven't been this happy for a long time," She told him with a soft smile on her face. Kyoya looked toward the entrance that led to the living room, averting his mother's kind gaze, but not with any ill intent.

Then came the moment Kyoya had been waiting for. _Ring ring ring ring riiiiing_

"Check the caller ID first," Kyoya's mother exclaimed over the phone's ringing.

With a gasp of surprise due to the unprecedented blaring of the sound, despite Kyoya waiting there for half an hour straight, he grabbed the phone like a robber stealing jewelry from a jewelry store, pressed the call button, and pushed the phone into his ear. "Riko? That you?" His initial surprise dissipated immediately once Riko's dulcet yet excited and enthusiastic-sounding voice flowed into his ear. "Hey! So did she say yes? She did?! Awesome! Whoa! Tomorrow? Hang on just a sec."

Kyoya turned in his mother's direction. "Hey, Mom! Riko wants to know if tomorrow'll be good. Is it?" He called out.

"Sure. I don't see why not. Both your father and I are off work," Kyoya's mother replied with a smile.

Kyoya went right back to the phone. "My mom just said tomorrow'll be perfect! Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. No, that's fine. Mom and Dad are gonna drop me off. They always do. Sure! I'll bring some of my games so we can battle our Pokemon and stuff like that! It's okay. Dad's got a portable ramp in the van, so don't worry about that. Got any word from Anzu? She's coming too? Awesome! Thanks so much, Riko! I can't wait to come over! See ya tomorrow at four! Bye!" Kyoya exclaimed excitedly as he hit the end call button on the phone and put it back on the counter.

"Woohoo! I'm gonna hang out with my friends tomorrow! This is awesome! Yahoo!" Kyoya cheered like an overhyped baseball fan. He wanted to jump around and spin around and cheer, but since his legs don't work, he had to make do with pumping his fists in the air and spinning around in his electric wheelchair, and he had to do that in the living room. Even then, it didn't spin fast enough for him to be satisfied, but he didn't mind. He's just too happy to finally be able to hang out with Riko outside of school. Kyoya's mother couldn't help but laugh heartily as she watched her wheelchair bound son spin around the living room, cheering like he passed a hard math test.

Right around then, a man came into the dining room. His hair is a rich, dark shade of chocolate brown, his eyes the same emerald hue as Kyoya's. His hair is flat with a few spikes here and there, along with a short and prickly little brown beard and mustache trailing all the curves and corners of his face, wearing a white shirt under a dark blue suit, a dark green tie, and black leather shoes. As soon as he came into the dining room, his eyes widened a little in awe of the cheerful, happy boy spinning around the living room like a loon.

"Kayoko? What's Kyoya so happy about?" The man asked his wife, Kayoko, in confusion.

"A new friend he made invited him to her house, and tomorrow they're going to hang out. Isn't this great, Jiroemon?" Kayoko told her husband, Jiroemon. As soon as he heard his wife tell him what's the hubbub, Jiroemon's confusion faded in an instant, and a smile popped right onto his face like a paintball being shot at a tree.

"Wow. That IS great, especially since he hasn't been this happy since before the accident," Jiroemon exclaimed, delighted at the thought of his son being able to hang out with a friend or two. Soon, he found himself staring at the boy, still wheeling around like he's in a race car. His eyesight began to subtly blur, and the smile he has on now looks a little sad. _'You really deserve it, Kyoya. It's been so long since you've been able to hang out with anyone...or even be truly happy. Words can't describe how happy it makes me to see you like this right now,'_ Jiroemon thought in his head.

Suddenly, Kyoya stopped wheeling in circles. "I better go pack the games I wanna bring with me!" Kyoya exclaimed as he wheeled to the bottom of the stairs. After he stopped, he very slowly pulled himself out of his electric wheelchair, managed to stand on his knees on the bottom of the stairs, put his elbows on some stairs, and very slowly began to pull himself up the stairs, looking like he's crawling. With every inch he moved, he pulled himself up by pushing his elbows onto the stairs and moving by his knees. Since Kyoya's eyes are fixated on the top of the stairs, he's oblivious to the fact that Jiroemon is right behind him.

"If you want, I can carry you up the stairs!" Jiroemon exclaimed, his face literally covered with worry, like he's afraid Kyoya will slip, fall, and break his skull.

"I'll be fine, Dad! I've practiced!" Kyoya exclaimed, delighted to be halfway up the stairs.

"Well, I'll be down here in case you fall," Jiroemon said, his wrinkled face donning a mask of anxiety. _'I want to help him, but he doesn't want me to. I have to respect that, but...I feel so horrible watching him struggle like this. I'm sorry, Kyoya,'_ Jiroemon said as he looked down at his leather shoes. Finally, after a few minutes, Kyoya made it to the top of the stairs like he climbed a mountain. He saw another wheelchair-this time a non-electric one, pulled himself into it, and wheeled into his room all by himself.

The walls are a pristine, marshmallow white with dark brown doors, one as the entrance and one for a closet, both with glass doorknobs. His bed, covered with a dark green and dark blue striped bed sheet with matching pillowcases, game consoles, T-shirts, and books on varying subjects, stood on pale hardwood flooring. A window on the back of the room overlooked his backyard, which is vast and clean, with a big tree in the back, fenced in by an old, rickety fence with a few holes in the boards, allowing free passage for any and all small animals. He has a nice, wooden computer desk made to fit in the corner of his room, with a shiny black computer on it, with a matching mouse and keyboard. On the other side of his room is a wooden bureau containing lots of clothes, with a lamp on top of it. On the right side of his bed is a tiny little pristine, snow white night stand with two little drawers, the bottom one smaller than the other, with a raven black alarm clock and a set of black binoculars on it. Below the window overlooking the back yard is a tortoise shaped footstool, soft like a bean bag.

Kyoya wheeled to his bed and pulled out a small, brownish green Nintendo DS carrying case. He gently slid his Nintendo DS in it, along with throwing in some games in the black pocket on the top part. He zipped it up, and put it on his bed. He wheeled to his night stand, grabbed the binoculars, and wheeled himself to the tortoise-shaped footstool. He pulled himself off of his wheelchair, got on the footstool, opened the window, and looked out at his back yard. Standing on his knees on the footstool, he began looking into his binoculars, wondering what's new out in his backyard.

"Man, this is great! I'm gonna hang out with Riko tomorrow! At least glad she isn't like those idiots who ditched me. Now I wonder if any of those woodpeckers are gonna peck at the tree? I hope that pretty one comes back," Kyoya mused to himself happily as he peered into his binoculars, right in front of his glasses, and tried to find any woodpeckers. No woodpeckers in sight, not that he really minded. Just the thick leaves of the tree, the thick, bulky bark, the green grass popping up from the ground, some flowers Kayoko planted, some houses farther back on the next street, a cinder block lying on the ground, a pink thing with long ears ambling toward the tree like its exhausted, etc.

Wait…

At first, Kyoya thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He rubbed his eyes with his fists before looking back into his binoculars. He peered into them again to see if what he saw is real. To his surprise, it is. There is a pink thing with ridiculously long, floppy ears that went way past its stubby little feet walking-or rather, limping-toward the big tree. It clearly looked exhausted, like it hadn't eaten or slept or anything. It didn't even make it to the tree in time. Its tiny little legs gave out, and it collapsed onto the soft, evergreen grass.

"What is that thing?" Kyoya asked himself as he put his binoculars back on the night stand. "I oughta go and check it out," He mused to himself as he wheeled to the top of the stairs and pulled himself off of his manual wheelchair. Instead of crawling back down, he sat on the steps and pushed himself down on them one by one, scrupulously. This proved to be easier than crawling up the stairs, but he wasn't sure if his rear liked it. He made it to the bottom and pulled himself onto his electric wheelchair.

He wheeled through the kitchen, out onto the backyard deck, down the ramp Jiroemon made for it, and onto the green grass. He stopped to check if the pink thing is still there. It is, thankfully. Slowly, he wheeled toward it. Once he got close enough, he bent down to pick it up. A slight jolt of pain went into his back as he kneeled too far, but he didn't pay any heed to it. He gently picked up the pink thing by one of its long, floppy ears, put it in his lap, and wheeled back inside. Thankfully for him, his parents are in different rooms, so he didn't have to worry about them seeing him. He crawled back up the stairs, got back in the manual chair, put the pink thing on his lap, and wheeled back into his room.

Once he came back in, he decided to get a closer look at the thing he picked up. Its fur is a very pale, warm, soft shade of cotton candy pink, feeling softer than the fur on a young cat going past its kitten stage, with the ends of its long ears being a wild shade of raspberry red. He noticed that those red parts had curves on them similar to hearts. It's ears are long and floppy, stretching way down past its stubby little legs. It's arms are equally as stubby. It's eyes and mouth are both closed. Around its neck is a pale, mandarin orange ribbon with a tiny little red heart shaped decoration on it. He turned it around and saw that it has a red heart on its back, a thin, pink and red striped tail, with a red heart right at the end of it. He turned it back around and examined it some more.

"Is this some kind of stuffed animal?" Kyoya asked out loud as he held the pink stuffed animal-like thing in his arms. What is it exactly? A rabbit? A dog? Its head and ears drooped downward as he moved it, like someone in a depression. It's unconscious, so it was understandable. "Nah, it couldn't be. I swear I saw it move like it was real."

And he'd be right.

A loud but subdued, rumbling sound suddenly echoed in the room. Kyoya knew that sound anywhere: the hunger rumble. But it didn't feel like it came from his stomach. If it did come from his stomach, he'd feel it. But he didn't. Where did it come from? Better yet, where _could_ it come from? He's the only human being in the room. Someone's hungry, but it isn't him, nor is it anyone else he knew of living in this house.

"Okay. That was freaky," Kyoya said out loud, surprised by the fact that he heard someone's stomach growling that wasn't his, and there's nobody else in the room with him. But it would get freakier. A soft, low pitched squeak suddenly caught his ear. He turned around to face the pink doll he's holding.

But it isn't a doll. It's eyes are moving, and it's mouth is open a little bit.

The pink animal's eyes opened, confirming Kyoya's suspicion for good: it IS real. The pink stuffed animal-like creature's eyes are a nice, pretty lavender color, like the lavender fields that stretched all over Hokkaido during the spring. Kyoya didn't dare make a sound and scare the creature, even though his insides are doing back flips, his emerald eyes are as wide as saucers, and he wants answers as to what the heck this pink thing is. Soon, the pink creature's eyes are fully open, and it looked Kyoya straight in the eyes.

Neither knew what to say. An awkward silence consumed the room like a tsunami, even though nobody is hurt or drowning. Finally, something broke the silence, but nothing Kyoya expected.

A vociferous, piercing screech came right out of the pink stuffed animal thing's mouth, causing Kyoya himself to scream a little in fright. Thankfully for him, the pink thing's scream didn't last long. It flew on his bed, grabbed some of his books, and began throwing them at him like projectiles!

"Evil villain! Get back! Go away! Go away, you vile creature!" The pink animal screeched in an ear bleedingly high pitched voice. Kyoya managed to hold his arms up in a defensive pose to keep the books from hitting his face, but he's just as confused and frightened as the pink creature is.

"Jeez! Calm down, will ya?! I'm not gonna hurt you! And stop throwing my books! Hey! That hurts, y'know!" Kyoya protested as the pink animal kept throwing books at him. Finally, the pink animal stopped, donning an angry look on its pudgy face, it's lilac eyes blazing with courage, and put its stubby little arms on its hips.

"Don't think you're so tough, evil villain! I know what you're thinking! I'm not some weak little cutesy-poo damsel in distress you can control for your own selfish deeds! This little fairy is one tough little cookie, and if you think you can defeat me because I have cute looks and look like I can't defend myself, think again!" The pink animal shouted, pointing a ballpoint pen at Kyoya, who is on the far side of the room, away from his bed, like a newly brandished sword. Soon, the pink animal got a better look at him, and it's eyes softened up a bit upon seeing the wide-eyed, flabbergasted redhead.

"Oh, Wait. You're not an evil villain," The pink animal said in a much nicer sounding, albeit very squeaky, female voice.

"Who did you think I was?! Slenderman?! Chucky?! The Joker?!" Kyoya shouted. How can think little pink creature claim that he's a villain when she's the one who threw books at him and threatened to maim him with one of his ballpoint pens?

"Kyoya? You okay?" Jiroemon's voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Oh, snap!" Kyoya yelped as he grabbed the pale pink creature and hid it under his bed. He pulled himself out of his chair and slumped on the side of his bed. "Yeah, Dad?" He said, allowing Jiroemon to come into the room, looking rather worried.

"I heard a scream. What happened? You're not hurt, are you?" Jiroemon asked, his voice peppered with worry.

Kyoya let out a rueful sounding laugh, rubbing his cherry red hair with one of his hands. "Nah. I was on the computer and some horror movie ad popped up, and I forgot to turn down the volume. It blasted my ear drums out!" Kyoya replied with a forced laugh. Jiroemon went over to him and bent down to his level.

"Are you sure you're not hurt? You didn't try walking on your own again, did you? And why are your books all over the floor? Did you slip and fall? I keep telling you not to push yourself so hard! You can seriously get hurt if you slip on one of these books!" Jiroemon interrogated him worriedly, not realizing the rather miffed look that grew on Kyoya's face like a newly sprouting plant.

"I'm _fine_, Dad. Quit worrying," Kyoya told him, a bit more sternly this time. "I didn't slip. I was trying to get one and they all scattered on the floor. I'll clean them up in a bit."

"I can clean them if you want," Jiroemon offered sheepishly.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have some homework I need to do. Sorry about the ruckus," Kyoya said as he reached out for some books and managed to grab some without moving from his spot.

"Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me, son. I'll be downstairs if you need me," Jiroemon said, finally conceding defeat. He stood up and with a small smile, he left Kyoya's room, closing the door behind him. But what Kyoya didn't know was that after he closed the door, he didn't leave right off. He looked down at the purplish red rug below him, his green eyes becoming a little bit somber. His eyesight blurred a little, but it wasn't because of age. He put a hand on his face and finally left to go downstairs.

Once Kyoya heard him going down the stairs, he exhaled a big sigh of relief. He didn't see the pink creature. If he saw that freaky little thing walking and talking, he'd freak out to high heaven. But as soon as Kyoya finished his sigh of relief, the creature sprawled out from under the bed and hopped right back onto it. She is NOT happy, and neither was Kyoya.

"That was so mean! Why'd you have to smush me under the bed like I'm some pile of dirty clothes?! I believe everyone deserves to marvel at my astonishingly stunning beauty and good looks!" The creature asked petulantly, like a spoiled little rich girl, pushing one of her long ears behind her like a fashion model, which didn't sit well with Kyoya.

"Because if they saw a stuffed animal walking and talking, they'd flip out. That's why. Also, who and what the heck are you supposed to be anyway?" Kyoya asked as he moved some books out of his way and pulled himself back onto his manual wheelchair.

"Heehee! I'm glad you asked! It'd be ever so impolite to not introduce myself, so I might as well!" The pink creature exclaimed rather cutely, her rosy cheeks donning a raspberry red hue, her lilac eyes twinkling like stars, and striking a cute stuffed animal-like pose. "My name is Lovebeam! Aren't I the cutest little fairy you've ever seen in your whole entire life?"

'_Make my teeth rot, why don't you?'_ Kyoya thought sarcastically, miffed by the fairy's-Lovebeam's-rather saccharine introduction. He had to wonder if she's presenting herself in an overly cutesy manner to make him either pity her or let down his guard. It wasn't going to work. He crossed his arms, unfazed by her cutesy-poo saccharine-ness. "Okay, Lovebeam...I just wanna ask you...if you're _really_ a fairy, how come you don't have any wings?" He asked sarcastically, with some snark tipping his tongue.

"I dunno. Nobody said it was a rule for fairies to have wings!" Lovebeam retorted. She shrugged her shoulders. "You humans and your absolutely terrible tendency to stereotype everything."

'_Yeah! Speaking of stereotypes, you're obviously little miss froo-froo spoiled brat who whines incarnate! And don't talk to ME about stereotyping!'_ Kyoya yelled in his head. "Where are you from, and why are you even on Earth?"

"Ohh! That's right! I remember! My sisters and I tried to stop this rogue human from coming here and wreaking havoc, like he did on our home planet Rozaniela, but he attacked us and…" It's here that Lovebeam's ears began to droop, and the twinkle in her lavender eyes began to fade as she looked down at Kyoya's bedspread dejectedly. "...we got separated. I've searched for them left and right, but I haven't found a single one of them!" Her eyes began to look like they're about to burst into tears. "I've been alone all this time! I can't stand the thought of something terrible happening to them! I'm so worried about them, and they must be ever so worried about poor little me! Oh, where oh where did they goooo?! I miss them so muuuuch!" Finally, Lovebeam burst into a paroxysm of wailing. She certainly looked very pitiful indeed. Although Kyoya's irritability got replaced with some sympathy and pity for the pink animal fairy thing, he's still flummoxed. Who wouldn't be? It's not normal to see a cute pink stuffed animal talking and walking.

"Hey. Don't cry, Lovebeam. If you want, I'd be more than happy to help you look for your sisters," Kyoya told her softly, in a kind, sympathetic voice, which immediately made Lovebeam's tearful display disappear like it never happened in the first place, replaced with radiant joy.

"Really?! You will?! Oh, thank you, young human! I'm ever so sorry I thought you were a villain before!" Lovebeam exclaimed happily, jumping up and down like a child who was promised dessert. But she stopped as soon as she saw Kyoya's closet, the door wide open, revealing some of his clothes. Typical boy clothes, like long jeans, long shorts, hoodies, sweaters, and some short sleeved shirts with lots of artsy looking designs on them. She zipped into the closet and suddenly began ripping the clothes off of their hangers.

"Ewww! You may be chivalrous, but you obviously have absolutely zero taste in fashion! Look at these monstrosities! This closet seriously needs a major head-to-toe makeover!" Lovebeam shouted as she scoffed at Kyoya's clothes and began throwing them around his room like rag dolls.

Kyoya's previous irritability came right back as he grabbed the fairy by the ears and stopped her from throwing more of his clothes around. "Hey! Don't you know it's rude to go into people's closets and throw their clothes around?! For someone who's going through a family crisis, you sure are rude!" Kyoya snapped.

Lovebeam's sad, googly-eyed face came back. "Ooooh! How mean! You said you'd help me find my sisters! How can you be so bold as to treat poor, pitiful little me this way?! If anyone's rude, it's you!" Lovebeam wailed petulantly like she's being framed for a crime she didn't commit.

"There's a difference between being rude and putting your foot down, y'know! And don't think the little woe-is-me act is gonna work on me!" Kyoya exclaimed. Suddenly, Lovebeam pried her ears out of his hands, pulled out a bunch of his drawers, and began yanking clothes out of there left and right, not listening to anything he just said.

"HEY! Quit it, you!" Kyoya tried to stop her from messing up his room more, but some piles of clothes got thrown on him, taking him a while to take them off one by one. Lovebeam didn't even look like she noticed he was there anymore. _'God, this thing's a little brat!'_ Kyoya screamed in his head.

"Ew! Ugly! Tacky! Gross! Too green! Too camouflage-y! Too stiff! Too lively!" Lovebeam mused as she rummaged through Kyoya's bureau, unabashedly leaving drawers wide open and throwing clothes around the entire room, turning it into a very messy laundromat. Finally, Kyoya got all the clothes off of him, rolled over to the oblivious pink fairy, grabbed her by the ears, and stared daggers with his emerald eyes.

"Didn't anyone teach you any manners?!" Kyoya shouted, finally having enough of Lovebeam's antics. "Fine then! Clean up this mess right now, or I won't help you look for your sisters! Do you understand me, young lady?!" He shouted sternly, putting his foot down, hoping Lovebeam will finally take the hint and stop messing up his room. Lovebeam didn't answer right off, as she looked quite flabbergasted, just like Kyoya when she first appeared in his room.

Finally, she pouted. "Fine. I was only trying to improve your wardrobe. You didn't have to be so mean to poor little me!" Lovebeam pouted petulantly as she reluctantly but obediently cleaned up the mess she made, gently picking up every piece of clothing she threw around. She neatly folded some and put them back in the drawers. Others she put back on the hangers in the closet. Kyoya picked up some of the books she dropped, not wanting her to slip and fall. Finally, Kyoya's room is back to the way it was. Lovebeam, however, isn't happy. She sat on Kyoya's bed with her lips sticking out and her stubby little arms crossed.

"I'm hungry," Lovebeam muttered.

Kyoya smiled. "Since you cleaned up my room nicely, I'll get you something to eat as a reward," Kyoya said as he wheeled out of his room.

"I may be hungry, but I want something nice, like a pretty dress with lots of ribbons and bows and frills and embroidered lace!" Lovebeam complained to the air as Kyoya left the room, happy to finally get away from her screechy whining, even for a little bit. He couldn't help but giggle as he left the room and went downstairs. After that, he got in his electric wheelchair and wheeled into the kitchen to grab something for her to eat. He decided on some crackers, fruit bars, and a pack of apple juice. As he got whatever food he figured Lovebeam would eat (or probably hate), he overheard his parents talking in another room.

"I'm going to pay some bills real quick, honey," Jiroemon told his wife, who looked a little worried.

"Jiro...you look sad. Tell me what's wrong," Kayoko implored sweetly but sadly.

"It's nothing," He said as he went for the door.

"Please don't keep blaming yourself for what happened! You didn't know!" Kayoko exclaimed in a worried tone of voice, which made him stop in his tracks. "You didn't know that drunk driver was coming right at us. How can we even know something like that? It's not like humans can see into the future!"

"It's not about that drunk driver!" Jiroemon exclaimed bitterly as he closed the door behind him. Kyoya, not wanting to exacerbate things, put the snacks in his pockets and climbed the stairs back to his room on all fours.

* * *

"I can't believe it's finally happening to me!" Riko squealed happily as she twirled around her room in a state of absolute bliss. Moonbeam couldn't help but smile as she watched her friend squeal and twirl and jump around her room, consumed by the torrential tsunami that is the best kind of happiness and joy and jubilance there is.

"What do you plan on doing with them when they arrive?" Moonbeam asked curiously, her long ears standing up, pointing to the ceiling.

"That's easy! We're gonna play games, watch anime, read manga, and talk about anything we can think of! But we're not gonna talk about clothes or boys or nail polish or makeup or gossip or any of that stupid icky girly stuff!" Riko exclaimed happily as she slumped onto the floor and began drawing more pictures, filling in some uncolored spots with a cherry blossom pink colored pencil. "Eeeek! I'm sooooo happy! I can't believe one of my dreams is finally coming true! I have actual friends, and they're actually coming over my house to hang out! Just dreaming about it makes me wanna explode like a huge cloud of cherry blossom petals being carried by the spring breeze! I can't wait to do whatever I want with them! When I was younger, I used to always be jealous of my classmates. They always had friends and they always invited them over to their houses to do fun stuff together. Everyone always told me that someone as stupid as me can never have friends, and that no sane person would ever want to go to a house belonging to a stupid weirdo retard," Riko exclaimed happily at first, then becoming a little sad as she colored in some more uncolored spots.

"You're not any of those things. I think you're a nice person, and I'm sure you'll have a great time when they come over. But whenever my sisters and I had friends over, my parents always told us that since our friends are coming over, we have to think about them and what they want. Just some helpful advice: if they come over, ask questions like "Would you like anything to eat or drink? What games do you want to play? What books do you want to read? Is there anything I can do for you?" Not a whole lot, but I just don't want your get-together to get ruined," Moonbeam explained kindly.

"It's okay. Thanks for that. I'll try and keep those in mind," Riko said as she finished coloring in some uncolored spots with her colored pencils. After that, she found herself squealing again. "I can't stop being happy! I want tomorrow to come already!" Riko shouted as she stood up, grabbed one of her cute cat-eared hats and put it on her head. She curled her hands up like cat paws and struck a pose. "Meow! Kitty Riko's got friends now!"

Moonbeam couldn't help but giggle. Not in a mean way, of course. In fact, she's quite happy for Riko. She had seen Riko be happy before, but never to an extent like this. Moonbeam's heart warmed like a heating blanket seeing the happy young girl jump around the room with her cat eared hat, pretending to be a cat out of sheer happiness, Riko's emerald eyes donning a gleam that resembled those of newborn stars shining brightly in the midnight sky, twinkling happily without a care in the world. There's nothing wrong with being happy and having your own way of expressing how happy you are, right?

"Stop being weird right now!" Rina's vociferous, high voice suddenly made Riko freeze in her tracks, almost tripping on the floor had she not grasped her bed just in time. Riko's hat fell onto the bed as soon as she stopped moving to turn to the entrance of her room, her emerald eyes laying upon a stern looking Rina, with her little arms crossed, wearing her pale blue, puffy-sleeved shirt with a rainbow shooting star on it, a ruffled raspberry pink skirt, white socks, and pink shoes with butterflies on the tips of them. Rina did not look happy. Moonbeam went into stuffed animal mode, not wanting the stern looking girl to find out her true identity or, worst of all, ask Riko questions about it. As soon as Riko saw Rina come into her room uninvited, her previous joy dissipated, getting replaced with irritation.

"Jeez, Rina! You scared the living daylights outta me! Don't you know it's rude to waltz into someone else's room?!" Riko shouted, her eyes wide with anger, understandably perturbed by Rina's unprecedented entrance and screechy shouting just now, as her heart is racing like a race car in the Indy 500.

"It's even more rude to pretend you're a cat even though you're old enough to know it's stupid and dumb and weird to do that! It's even more rude to tell lies, like you did with Mom just now!" Rina retorted petulantly, not showing any desire to back down.

"You mean me having friends over? I'm not lying about that, y'know," Riko said, crossing her own arms, with a contorted face that looked insulted by Rina's accusatory attitude.

"You don't have any friends! You're weird and stupid and dumb and not normal like me! Listen up! Nobody's allowed to come here if you're around! You're just gonna be weird and cry over stupid stuff and ruin everything and make us all look bad!" Rina exclaimed like she's the big boss of some big fancy company.

Moonbeam couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew from what Riko told her that Rina's a self-absorbed, mouthy little brat, but she never knew the little seven-year-old could be so bold as to say those mean things to Riko right to her face and act like she's the boss of the house! _'Jeez, Riko's right! This girl IS a brat! Just like Lovebeam! She calls Riko rude, but she's even ruder! How can she say that stuff to her older sister?! And why does she act like she knows Riko better than Riko herself does?'_ Moonbeam thought, appalled by Rina's very petulant behavior.

Riko, on the other hand, was not deterred. "Quit acting like you're the boss around here! You shouldn't say stuff like that. It's very rude! And I actually DO have friends. You just haven't met them!"

"Are they imaginary friends? Grow up, Riko! That stuff is for babies, just like those baby anime you watch like Moomins(1) and Maple Town! But then again, your brain will never grow up since you're stupid and dumb and babyish and weird and not normal like me!" Rina insinuated loudly and passionately for all to hear, crossing her arms, making her sound like she's a female queen be in a clique.

'_I seriously want to deck her. I know Sunbeam would in a heartbeat,'_ Moonbeam thought, trying desperately to fight the urge to get out of fake stuffed animal mode and give this snotty little brat a good spanking and scolding! She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt Sunbeam would do exactly that. But as it turned out, Moonbeam, knowing what the consequences would be if she revealed her true identity, didn't have to.

"Ri-NAAA!" Hikage suddenly popped out of nowhere and resounded her name in a warning voice, making her turn around aghast. He's standing firmly behind her, right at the entrance of Riko's room, wearing long black jean pants, a short sleeved blue shirt underneath a long sleeved, unbuttoned red and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the point where they look like squishy bread dough, and red and black cleats. Behind his glasses are eyes staring down at a busted Rina, looking very disappointed and upset in the angry, scolding parent kind of way.

"Hikage! Uhh…" Rina stammered, trying to find some way to avert Hikage's piercing, stern gaze. She pointed to Riko like she caught her committing a crime. "Riko's being weird again! She should know better!"

"YOU should know better than to pick on your older sister, Rina," Sadly for Rina, it didn't work. Not at all. This made her stare down at the floor ruefully, twisting a ruffle of her skirt around between her stubby little fingers. "Is Riko being happy really so bad to you, Rina? It's bad enough you pick on and call her mean names every day, like you're doing just now! Now you're trying to tell her to cancel her get-together just because you don't like it? That's not nice, Rina. It's very rude and inconsiderate," Hikage told her sternly, not averting his austere gaze one bit.

"But you know what she's like! She's just gonna be weird and ruin everything and make people talk bad about us!" Rina exclaimed petulantly.

"I KNOW what she's like, but that doesn't make it right for you to give her a bad time, and that definitely doesn't it make it right for you to act like you have to be the one to decide things around here. You should be happy Riko's inviting friends over, not telling her to cancel it just because it'll be convenient for you! How would YOU like it if I told you not to have friends over because I didn't like it? Now go to your room! You'll be in time out for ten minutes!" Hikage told her even more strictly, pointing in the direction of her room upon finishing.

"But-"

"No ifs, ands, or buts young lady! I don't want to hear another word of it! Now go to your room right now, missy! You're in there for ten minutes!" Hikage stamped his foot and raised his voice a little higher and stricter this time, managing to scare Rina into dashing into her room like an animal trying to run away from a predator. "And don't even THINK about sneaking out!" He added before exhaling a sigh of relief. He turned to Riko, smiled sweetly, and walked over to her. They both sat down on her bed, but not before Riko moved Moonbeam to the side so she wouldn't get sat on.

"Sorry about that. You okay?" Hikage asked kindly, lowering his voice to his usual soft, kind and cheery tone. Riko grabbed another stuffed animal, a bigger one this time, and squeezed it a little tightly, hoping to squeeze the bad feelings out of her system. "You don't have to listen to her. She just thinks picking on you will make her life better. I think it's great you finally have friends and are gonna invite them over. I can't wait to meet them. You've gone on and on about them, and I remember you always used to be so jealous of me whenever I had friends over."

"Does she know?"

"Huh?"

"Does Rina know I'm...autistic?" Riko muttered shyly, wondering if she was wrong in asking that question. Hikage put his hand in Riko's raven black hair and stroke it.

"I don't know. Probably not the full extent of it. I think Mom and Dad are planning to explain it to her when she's old enough to really understand. But I think they need to do it now, because I don't want her growing up believing that all people who have Autism do nothing but throw tantrums and cry a lot and don't talk and make messes. There's lots of successful people out there who are autistic and don't let their disability decide their life. But anyway, I'd really love to meet your friends. They seem like nice people from what you've told me. If you want, I'd be more than happy to help you out in giving them a good time. I don't have soccer practice tomorrow, so I'll be home right after three," Hikage explained kindly and lucidly. Riko looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks, Oniichan. You're always nice to me, even though...I do kinda ruin stuff for you too," Riko mused sweetly.

"What are you talking about? You don't ruin everything for me! I'm glad you're my little sister! Come here, you!" Hikage laughed as he wrapped his long arms around Riko, pulled her onto his lap, and nuzzled her like she's hugging a stuffed animal, making Riko burst into a paroxysm of merry laughter.

"Hey! Quit it, Niichan!" Riko giggled.

"Come on! Admit it, you like it!" Hikage retorted as he nuzzled her some more. Soon, he stopped, and Riko sat back on her bed. "Seriously, don't take what Rina says too seriously. She's just mouthy like that. If she ever calls you names or picks on you, tell me and I'll be sure to knock some sense into her."

"But she never listens," Riko replied.

"Then I'll make her listen. That's what brothers do! Keep their little siblings in line and teach them right!" Hikage exclaimed cheerfully.

"A single file line?" Riko asked, making Hikage giggle right out loud.

"Good one, Ri-chan!" Hikage croaked through his laughter, which made Riko cant her head to one side in confusion.

'_Hikage's really nice. He's a great big brother,'_ Moonbeam thought, happy to see Hikage be supportive and play with his little sister. _'Sunbeam and Starbeam are like that too. But still...I wonder if Lovebeam is doing okay?'_ Moonbeam thought again with some mild worry creeping into her heart.

* * *

Jiroemon left the red brick city hall with a frown on his rugged face, his emerald eyes downcast. Yes, he was able to pay the bills just fine. That's not what's bothering him. He sat on a nearby bench after getting out and pushed his hands through his thick hair as he let out an exasperated sigh. He then looked back up at the pristine blue sky above him, taking note of some very small, wispy, cotton candy white clouds aimlessly floating by without a care in the world, just like everything else going on. Cars are zipping back and forth on the street, some taking U-turns, people bustled about going to wherever it is they're all going to, and some birds flew and danced around some trees, happily and merrily twittering and singing their lovely songs like usual. He couldn't help but wish he was carefree like those little birds. They sure are lucky to fly around and do whatever they wanted without feeling bogged down by anything.

"Oh! Is that you, Mitomo-san?" A voice suddenly pulled him out of his reverie. Looking a little aghast, he turned around to find a small, lanky looking man about his own age with wavy black hair part down the front with very poofy looking bangs, deep brown eyes, wearing a lanky grey and white suit with a black neck tie, black dress shoes, and holding a brown suit case. He pretty much looks like every other typical Japanese salary man.

"Oh...hello there. Uhh...your name's Takebayashi, right?" Jiroemon asked, a little flummoxed at first until he began to see the man's image in his brain from another memory. The lanky salary man, Takebayashi, smiled.

"Yes, that's me. I've been wondering when I'd see you again! How've you been?" Takebayashi asked eagerly.

"I've been better, but...I'm kind of going through a bit of an internal crisis right now, and I'm not quite sure what to do," Jiroemon replied sheepishly.

"Want to talk about it? I'm all ears," Takebayashi asked. He didn't sit down. Jiroemon didn't mind. He smiled in response to Takebayashi's offer to listen.

"Thanks. See, ever since my son's accident, he's been growing up so much, and the progress he's made in the past year and a half has been tremendous. But...I feel like I'm responsible for what happened to him. I mean, I feel like I absolutely have to help him with everything, like getting him up the stairs. But he doesn't want me to help him with anything. Kayoko says I shouldn't coddle him or baby him, and I'm trying to respect both of their wishes, and but...I don't know," Jiroemon put a hand on his forehead like he came home from work very exhausted. "I feel so agitated whenever I can't do anything for him. Please don't get me wrong, it makes me happy that Kyoya's trying so hard to get better, and he's become a lot more self-sufficient, but...I feel like if I don't do anything for him, the guilt won't go away," He kept looking down as he talked. Takebayashi looked up at the sky, the opposite direction, looking quite oblivious as he munched on a piece of a granola bar.

"You're talking about the car accident, right? Yeah, heard about it. It must suck to take care of a disabled kid, especially if he's paralyzed forever," Takebayashi muttered as he swallowed the piece of granola bar he chewed on.

Jiroemon looked up at him with horror on his face. "What did you say?"

Takebayashi didn't notice. He just kept looking up and going on, oblivious to Jiroemon's display of shock. "People who're paralyzed can't do anything for themselves, y'know. They have to have everybody take care of them and do everything for them for the rest of their lives. It must really suck. I have to wonder if those kinds of people actually like having stuff done for them, like they're kings or queens and their family members are like servants. It's like they've turned back into babies. Maybe they don't know the pain their caretakers are going through on their behalf."

The more Takebayashi palavered about the downsides of being paralyzed, the more angry Jiroemon grew, especially when he remembered all the times Kyoya rejected his offers to help him. But Kyoya never rejected him out of inconsideration or to be ungrateful. He just simply wanted to be self-sufficient and get around the barriers set by his paralysis.

"_Don't worry about me, Dad. I'll be fine."_

"_I don't like having people do everything for me. They make it look like I can't do stuff all by myself. Don't you just hate that?"_

"_Quit worrying, Dad! I just fell, that's all. See? Not a scratch on me!"_

"_I can do this myself. I can handle it. Don't you have to go to work?"_

"_I'll be fine, Dad! I've practiced!"_

Jiroemon couldn't believe what he was hearing. Takebayashi's automatically acting like he knows Kyoya when he really doesn't, and is judging him just because he has a disability! What does he know? Granted, he probably knows nothing about his situation, and in a way that's understandable since he's never been in that kind of affair, but still...Jiroemon couldn't forgive his profound lack of understanding for his friend's situation and for his stupid preconceived notion. He slammed his fist onto the rail of the bench and stood up in alarm, frightening Takebayashi into dropping his granola bar.

"What?!" Takebayashi yelped, his eyes looking like they're about to pop right out of his head.

"How can you be so freaking stupid?! My son is perfectly capable of doing lots of things all by himself, with or without his disability! In fact, he's far more self-sufficient than you'll ever be! Not only that, he's actually getting better, even though he's still in physical therapy! What gave you the idea that people who are permanently paralyzed LIKE having people do things for them?! Haven't you considered how they feel?! Maybe they hate having stuff done for them and feel bad they can't do what they used to anymore! It's not like they WANT to be paralyzed or WANT to have their families take care of them for the rest of their lives or make them take time out of their lives for their behalf! My son, too! He knows this, and that's why he's worked so hard to get around his disability and find ways to cope, because he can't stand people, us included, treating him like a machine that's broken beyond repair! And he's better off for it, because he's gotten so much stronger since the accident, and he's never given up on his dream of being able to walk again! What gives you the right to judge people just because they have something they don't want?!" Jiroemon shouted angrily, vehemently, and passionately, his voice raised to its highest point, his eyes a little bloodshot, and his fingers digging into his palms to the point where his fingernails actually cut into his skin a little, not that he bothered to notice. Not only that, he glanced at the granola bar on the ground and stamped on it, flattening it like a pancake until it was crushed beyond repair.

"Ahh! My lunch!" Takebayashi wailed when he saw his granola bar get murdered by Jiroemon's merciless leather shoes.

"I suggest you change those warped views of yours. Disabled people are people too, y'know! They have feelings, and they can do whatever we can! You know what? Forget it. I hope you don't have a disabled child! You'd probably throw it out with your trash!" Jiroemon yelled further, not giving the poor, hapless man time to even argue back. With that, Jiroemon grunted and stomped into his car. He turned the keys in his ignition and drove away once the car started, happy to get away from that stupid, closed-minded salary man.

However, a wave of guilt still consumed his heart like a tsunami. Not for Takebayashi, but for Kyoya. _'He's so strong, and he's managed to overcome so much...but I'm the reason he's the way he is...how can he forgive me so easily?'_ Jiroemon thought as he drove, trying to pay attention to his surroundings. He shook his head and tried to shake off the guilt and the anxiety thrown on him by Takebayashi's closed-mindedness. But as he turned a corner and proceeded to drive up on a little hill, he saw a figure in a crimson red cape meandering about, looking confused and frazzled.

Consumed by curiosity, he stopped the car on a safe part of the street and got out. Upon closer inspection, the figure in the red cape is a teenager, with long, sterling silver hair that went down to his shoulders. Is it a girl? The teenager has white skin that almost looked transparent, and is dressed in a short sleeved black shirt, black pants, a gold diadem with leaves on it, tall bloody red boots, a lavender purple neck ruffle, and fingerless black gloves. But as Jiroemon got closer, he noticed the child looked focused on something. He peered closer to find that the child is looking at a magazine. One about houses. The child is rubbing it's head with one of it's hands and grunting loudly in frustration, stamping one of its feet.

"Ugh! I can't make heads or tails of any of this garbage! Why can these idiots read this stuff better than me?!" The child yelled in what appeared to be an unusually high pitched, prepubescent boy voice even though the boy looked to be of the age where he should be in high school.

"Excuse me. Do you need any help?" Jiroemon asked kindly. The boy turned around and gave the concerned Jiroemon a very insinuating and angry look with his red eyes.

"No, I don't need any help! Get outta my way, you trash!" The boy yelled vehemently and threw the magazine right at Jiroemon's face like it was trash.

Jiroemon took a few steps back, cowed by the silver haired child's extremely blunt and vociferous response. How can a child his age talk that way to an adult, especially since he's just asking if he needs any help? After that, the boy spat at the grass, leaving a big gob of spit dripping on some blades of grass.

"Meh. I'm bored," The boy muttered.

* * *

Kyoya and Lovebeam went out into their backyard for some fresh air, but when the bratty little pink fairy flew out into the open environment, her long ears suddenly shot up into the air, looking straighter than a plank. Her lilac eyes widened to the point where they resembled saucers, filling their buckets with fear. Kyoya couldn't help but notice when he heard Lovebeam yelp.

"What's wrong, Lovebeam?" Kyoya asked.

"I feel an evil presence! It might be him!" Lovebeam exclaimed fearfully.

"Who do you mean by him?" Kyoya asked again, becoming concerned this time.

"Zenjin! That kid who ruined my home planet and separated me from my sisters! I have to go!" Lovebeam shouted and tried to flutter away, but Kyoya managed to grip one of her long ears in the nick of time.

"Wait! Calm down! You said he ruined your planet, right? He might be too strong for you to handle!" Kyoya pleaded, hoping to persuade her to fall back, but the persistent little fairy still tried her hardest to fly despite one of her ears in his grip.

"I know that! But he might be hurting my sisters, and I have to save them! Don't try to stop me!" Lovebeam wailed as she struggled to break free of his grasp, her pudgy little cotton candy pink face contorting with both worry for her sisters, fear of the evil presence, and a little bit of pain from one of her ears still in his grasp. Weirdly enough, instead of breaking free, she actually managed to move quite a distance despite Kyoya's hand being wrapped around her ear...and funnily enough, she's dragging Kyoya, wheelchair and all, right along with her. Kyoya's wheelchair has a seatbelt on it wrapped firmly around his waist, which is why he isn't falling out.

"Lovebeam! You can't! It's too dangerous!" Kyoya pleaded again, keeping a firm grip on one of her ears, without any intent on letting her go. He couldn't help but wonder why he's so concerned about this little pink, droopy eared fairy when all she's done is act like a spoiled brat and ruin his room? Why is he showing concern for her? He didn't know, but Lovebeam sounded dead serious when she mentioned this Zenjin person.

"I don't care! My sisters need me!" Lovebeam whined as she found herself flying through the backyard gate, dragging Kyoya right along with her, although he's still using the joystick to maneuver it to make it easier not just on him, but on her as well, since he doesn't want her to get hurt dragging him around.

* * *

Around that time, Moonbeam felt the evil presence too, and Riko immediately called Anzu, Hotaru, and Marina to tell them that a Corrupt Sentinel may be nearby. Riko transformed into Cure Twilight before letting Moonbeam lead the way. Soon, Cure Twilight met up with the four other Pretty Cures in the area where they saw Zenjin, who was successful in yanking out the man's soul, corrupting it, and turning it into a gigantic black frog. The black frog, much to their surprise, isn't as big as the other Corrupt Sentinels they fought, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.

"Hey, Human Trash! Go crazy! Go wild! Wreak all the havoc you want!" Zenjin cheered with an inappropriately glee-filled smile on his face, his crimson eyes wide with a kind of odd, childish joy, not caring that an unconscious man, his skin pale and Soul Portal exposed for all to see, is lying right behind him.

"RIBBIT!" The giant frog leaped on a nearby tree. The tree is really thin, and it couldn't handle the frog's weight, so it snapped and fell on a telephone line, snapping it in half, sending electric blue sparks of electricity flying around. The frog didn't care. After that, it's long, black tongue shot out of its mouth, wrapping itself around a little bird that couldn't fly away in time.

"NO! Twilight Sparkle!" Cure Twilight quickly shot out from her hiding spot, got her Twilight Ring out, and threw it at the frog's tongue like a boomerang. Unfortunately, it simply bounced off, and didn't make any scratches on it. But it did make the frog cry out in pain to the point where the tongue unwrapped itself from the bird, allowing it to fly away.

"RIBBIT!" The frog cried out upon laying eyes on a courageous Cure Twilight, it's round, bloody red eyes glowing with anger, just like Zenjin's.

"Hey! Quit ruining my fun, you trashy skanks!" Zenjin yelled angrily, annoyed by the entrance of the Pretty Cures. He could feel a vein pop in his head, but he couldn't care less.

"Fat chance, bucko! Dusk Fire Punch!" Cure Dusk shouted as both of her fists suddenly burst into blazing orange flames, right as she leaped in front of Zenjin to try and land some punches on him. Unfortunately, he raised his hands in front of her fists and made a glowing red barrier around himself, successfully bereaving her of the opportunity to give him some well deserved comeuppance for turning her into a Corrupt Sentinel back then.

Cure Dawn got her nunchucks out, did a backflip in the sky and tried to land a Dawn Slam attack on the giant frog, but it leaped out of the way and onto the roof of a house, causing her to hit the broken tree instead. But she recovered quickly and jumped onto the roof of the house it landed on. Cure Twilight joined her and they both held hands as they leaped into the air, landing some hard kicks on the frog's face, knocking it off of the roof and spiraling down a steep street.

"Get it!" Starbeam shouted as the Pretty Cures all ran down the street to chase after the frog, which landed into a little park right at the bottom of it, leaving Zenjin all alone at the top of it, not that he cared.

"Starlight Kick!" Cure Starlight was the first to deliver another elegant kick, this time on the frog's abdomen, causing it to release a very pained and vociferous croak which mad Cure Twilight cover her ears in fright. All of a sudden, the frog's tongue shot out from it's large, hippo-like mouth, wrapping itself around a frazzled Cure Dusk and lifting her into the air.

"Dusk!" Cure Twilight, snapping herself out of her moment of weakness, leaped into the air and grabbed onto the frog's incredibly sticky and slimy tail. The frog's saliva stuck to her like glue, and she didn't like how drippy, wet, and sticky it felt against her skin, but she wasn't going to let Cure Dusk get eaten by a frog. Once she got close enough, she drew out her long silver claws and slashed the frog's tongue, causing it to let out an even louder, even more pained croak, followed by Cure Dusk landed safely on her feet, with the wings on her shoes fluttering to help break the fall.

"Thanks, Twilight!" Cure Dusk exclaimed happily, with a warm, energetic looking smile as she held her hand out for a high five. Cure Twilight felt her heart go warm. She did something right for once, and Marina isn't angry at her! She withdrew one of her claws and happily smacked Marina's hand. It stung when they made contact, but it wasn't as bad as Riko thought it'd be.

"_It's my fault! It's my fault my son's the way he is now!"_ The frog wailed as it leaped out of the park and tried to go further, but Cure Dawn hopped right in front of it.

"Golden Dawn Explosion!" A huge dome of golden effulgence shot right out from Cure Dawn in all directions, blinding the frog and sending it rolling across the concrete pavement. The frog didn't quite get up right off.

"_I should have packed a spare tire! I should have changed the tires before we went out! If I did either of those, my son wouldn't have been hurt, and he wouldn't have been paralyzed! We could have avoided that drunk driver!"_ The frog wailed again as it struggled to get back on it's long, webbed, froggy feet.

"Dusk Medley!" Not wanting to give it a chance to get up, Cure Dusk released orange, fire covered musical notes from her fists, shooting them at the frog, which, instead of enduring them, used whatever's left of its tongue to knock them all away! One fiery musical note wound up hitting a nearby house, breaking the glass on one of the windows.

"Oh no!" Cure Twilight yelped upon seeing the fiery musical note shatter the glass. She heard screaming come from the house. But before she could do anything, the frog finally got back on its feet and tried to leap onto Cure Twilight. She didn't even see it behind her, and she would have gotten squished had Cure Dawn not slam it away with her nunchucks.

"Dawn Nunchucks!" Cure Dawn shouted as she smacked the giant frog so hard it went flying back toward the park, crushing a swing set, leaving it as flat as a pancake. Cure Twilight had to cover her ears because it was so loud.

"Sorry about that, Twilight!" Cure Dawn exclaimed.

"That's okay! Thanks for saving me, An-chan!" Cure Twilight replied, uncovering one of her ears and waving at Cure Dawn as thanks for saving her from becoming like the squashed swing set. Right behind her, a mother and her two young children scrambled out of the house with the broken window, knowing that they had to make a break for it or else they'd end up like the flies that frogs usually eat.

"_I'm sorry...I'm sorry…I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"_ The frog wailed somberly as it tried to leap on Cure Starlight, who managed to evade it and land a punch right in the face. She soon got her naginata out and tried to slash it, but then it managed to evade it just like she did earlier.

"Twilight-" Cure Twilight was about to use her Twilight Serenade on it, but she found herself struck by an odd blow to her back, causing her to be sent rolling across the pavement, leaving dirt and some fresh scratches on her arms in the process.

"Hey! Leave Riko alone, you bully!" Sunbeam screamed at the culprit, who turned out to be Zenjin, as he already came down from the steep street. One of his hands is glowing in a bloody, crimson red light, which pretty much incriminated him on the spot, not that he cared.

"Just let the frog do what it wants! It's fun to watch it hop all over the place and destroy everything!" Zenjin sneered.

"You think corrupting people's souls and making them kill people and destroy stuff is fun?! You're heartless!" Sunbeam yelled vehemently, her rage at Zenjin from back when he told her the cruel, cold truth still persisting in her proud little heart.

"Do I look like I care, you little rat?" Zenjin asked in a monotone voice as he threw another ball of red energy at them, just like he did Cure Twilight. Unlike with her, however, the three fairies created a glowing yellow dome-like barrier around themselves just like how Zenjin did earlier, protecting themselves from the beam of energy. What he didn't know was that Cures Starlight and Dawn passed right by him to get to the top of the really steep street.

Cure Twilight struggled to get herself back on her feet. Her back jolted with pain the minute she even tried to move, but she put up with it and managed to get herself back on her feet. "Oww…" She muttered as she tried to rub her back with her hand. She then took note of the gravel and scratches on her arms. She wiped off the gravel while being scrupulous not to get any into the fresh scratches lest they get infected, if they're not infected already. "I really need to get better at this…"

"Please, stop, Lovebeam! They might not even be there! You're gonna get hurt!" A voice suddenly shouted from some nearby bushes.

"I have to see if it's them! I have to check, right?!" Another voice, much girlier and much higher pitched, shouted back in a very worried and concern filled voice.

The second voice, Cure Twilight didn't recognize. Nobody she knew sounded like that. But the first voice sounded very familiar. She'd recognize it from a mile away. Fear began to consume her heart. If the first voice is who she thinks it is…

And it is.

Out from the bushes came a pink, long eared fairy with a pale orange ribbon around its neck. But it was who was with her that made Cure Twilight suddenly shout with surprise.

"Kyo-chan?!"

Yes, Kyoya, with a hand firmly gripped one the pink creature's long, floppy ears, stopped paying attention and turned toward Cure Twilight upon hearing his nickname. An awkward silence crept in between them, allowing Kyoya's grip on the fairy's ear to finally loosen, giving her the opportunity to finally get the heck out of there.

"...Riko?" Kyoya muttered, his emerald eyes wide as saucers, unable to comprehend the fact that this purple cat eared girl is right in front of him, plus the fact that she called him Kyo-chan, the nickname only Riko and his mother used with him.

Riko found her entire being frozen with the ice of anxiety and fear. _'OH NOOO! He's found me out! He's gonna think I'm a freak and that I caused all the destruction like everybody else even though I'm trying to help and he'll decide he doesn't want to be my friend anymoooore! Whaddo I doooooo?!'_ Riko's so consumed by her anxiety she couldn't move an inch.

"Cure Twilight! Come on! Your powers are required to return the amphibian back to its original state!" Starbeam implored as she and her two sisters floated over to the anxiety frozen Cure Twilight, not quite noticing Kyoya there until he himself let out a yelp.

"Whoa! There's more of you?!" Kyoya yelped, which caused the three fairies and Lovebeam to make eye contact. It didn't take long for even them to yelp, this time out of joy.

"My sisteeeers!" Lovebeam wailed, zipping away from Kyoya.

"Lovebeeeeam!" The three fairies shouted joyfully, flying away from Cure Twilight and unknowingly yanking her out of her fear and anxiety filled reverie.

Overjoyed, Lovebeam and her three younger sisters floated toward each other and partook in a group hug, squealing joyfully over their reunion. Cure Twilight and Kyoya, surprised as they are, couldn't help but smile upon seeing them rejoice in their heartfelt reunion, with all smiles and expressions of intense relief.

"We're together again!" Moonbeam exclaimed tearfully.

"I missed you all so much!" Lovebeam piped in just as tearfully but happily as she embraced her sisters.

"We were ever so worried about you!" Starbeam crooned.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Sunbeam edicted happily.

Unfortunately for them, a giant shadow loomed over them. Cure Twilight knew it came from above, and when she looked up, she found a big, black, frog-legged mass about to fall right on top of them and squish them to the point where they looked like pancakes. Thankfully, she was quick to take action, and she didn't hesitate one bit. Without any fear, as soon as the frog got close enough, she landed a massive punch. It was so strong that the frog got sent flying up the steep street and landed right on the top of it.

"Woohoo! Take that, froggy!" Cure Twilight cheered as she pumped her fists into the air and jumped around, rejoicing over the fact that she managed to protect Kyoya and the four fairy sisters. Even Kyoya couldn't help but be impressed since he's all smiles.

"That was awesome! Thanks!" Kyoya exclaimed gratefully despite feeling quite frazzled by all the craziness going on. Cure Twilight flashed her own smile and gave him a thumbs up, like the previous fear and anxiety that overtook her seconds before never had a grip on her in the first place.

"You're welcome!" Cure Twilight mused sweetly.

"Hey! We saved the guy and his Soul Portal!" Cure Dawn exclaimed as she and Cure Starlight leaped down from the steep street with the unconscious man's body and Soul Portal safely in their arms. Cure Dawn was about to say something more until her eyes widened upon making eye contact with Kyoya to the point where she almost dropped the man had she not collected herself quickly. _'Oh God! What's Mitomo doing here?! It's too dangerous for him to stick around! He didn't find us out, did he?!'_ Anzu thought fearfully.

"Thank goodness you saved him!" Cure Twilight exclaimed, exhaling a sigh of relief.

"We figured we needed to get him out of harm's way-" Cure Starlight was about to explain until someone cut her off.

"DAD!" That yell came right out of Kyoya's mouth. His eyes are back to being wide with shock as he wheeled over to the blue and yellow Pretty Cures. "What happened to him?!"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Cure Twilight yelped, her voice going up an octave, something she thought wasn't possible. "This guy's your dad?! Then that means…!"

"_I'm sorry...I'm sorry! I could have prevented this! I could have changed the tires before we left! I'm sorry you're paralyzed because of my mistake!"_ The frog wailed as it tried to eat the leaves off of a nearby tree, giving Cure Dusk ample time to unleash a Fiery Dusk Arrow on it. The flaming arrow managed to hit the frog right on it's back, but it didn't stop it from eating a good chunk of leaves from the tree.

"Oh God...that giant frog isn't him, is it?!" Kyoya mused upon hearing the frog's somber, dejected sounding words. If the giant frog really is his father, then, it might be possible that...it hit him right there.

Jiroemon blames himself for not being able to protect him during the accident.

"Twilight, take him to a safe place, then come back so we can purify Frogger here!" Cure Dawn commanded as she and Starlight set him down in front of an untouched tree. Twilight nodded and wheeled him away.

"Hey! That's my dad!" Kyoya protested as Cure Twilight wheeled him away.

"I know. His soul has been taken from his body, corrupted, and turned into that giant frog. But we'll turn him back to normal! I promise! Just stay here! I don't want you to get hurt or even killed! If you died, your dad might have more reason to blame himself!" Cure Twilight reasoned once she got him to a safe part of the street.

Kyoya couldn't help but look down at his knees. She made a really good point. But he did feel somewhat better knowing exactly what happened. Plus, maybe it would be better if he stayed out of harm's way. What can he do against a giant black frog that's the size of a small tree? It's hard enough for a normal person to fight something like that, let alone a quartet of superheroes and fairy sisters.

"Ohhh! Leave it to me! I'll distract it!" Lovebeam proclaimed proudly as she broke from the embraces of her tearful yet relieved sisters and zipped toward the giant frog.

"Lovebeam! No!" Moonbeam called out.

But Lovebeam already managed to approach the giant frog monster. "Hey, you! Giant froggy! Bet'cha can't catch little ol' meeeee!" Lovebeam teased as she flitted around the frog's face like an annoying housefly.

"Lovebeam, get back!" Sunbeam commanded, but the pink, floppy eared fairy didn't listen one bit. Soon, the frog stopped eating leaves and began chasing her while completely hopping on other houses, causing roof tiles to fall and leaving big holes on them.

"Lovebeam! Stop! You're making things worse!" Starbeam yelled as she proceeded to chase Lovebeam and the giant frog down. Thankfully for Starbeam, Lovebeam stopped in her tracks...right on top of the roof of one house.

"No I'm not! I'm helping you girls out!" Lovebeam complained petulantly until she saw a giant shadow loom over her. Looking up, she saw the giant frog about to jump on her until Cure Twilight swooped in and scooped the pink fairy in her arms just in the nick of time, using the wings on her shoes to float back down to the pavement. Soon, the frog leaped back onto the street.

"Now, girls!" Cure Twilight commanded, and the quartet readied their weapons.

"Twilight Serenade!" A purple ray of light consumed the giant black frog.

"Starlight Shower!" A shower of glowing blue stars rained onto the black frog.

"Dawn Flame!" Spinning her nunchucks rapidly, a golden yellow flame flew out and consumed the giant frog, causing it to croak in excruciating pain.

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Dusk readied her arrow, and then let go, allowing the arrow to shoot into the giant frog's skin, with the orange flames mixing with Cure Dawn's yellow flames, charring it to the point where it dissolved into nothing but charred ash. The attacks faded, leaving behind a crimson red orb. Quickly, Cure Twilight grabbed it and dropped it back into Jiroemon's Soul Portal. The color returned to his skin, and he found himself waking up.

"Dad! Dad!" Kyoya yelled, thinking it safe to come out. He wheeled over to his partially conscious father with worry written all over his round face. "Dad! You okay?! Answer me!" Kyoya pleaded as he tried to reach down and wake his father, but his arm didn't reach since he's still in his wheelchair, seatbelt fastened and all.

"What the-?! What's HE doing here?!" Marina yelped, her golden eyes wide with shock, suddenly taking note of Kyoya's unprecedented presence. Anzu facepalmed and shook her head. Kyoya didn't bother to pay any attention.

The girls, who transformed back to their normal selves, were about to leave until they noticed Zenjin standing about a few feet away, with the same look Kyoya had when he discovered Cure Twilight...only he looked more like he saw the most horrible thing ever. His eyes became extremely wide to the point where his crimson irises looked very much like little tiny pimples. His face, already white as a sheet, became even paler in color, his hands and legs trembled with fear, and his whole body is wracked with horror, all because his crimson eyes are on Kyoya, still worriedly begging his father to wake up, struggling to undo his seatbelt so he can reach further.

This wound up presenting a very big opportunity for Sunbeam. "Hey, Zenjin! Time for you to get some well deserved comeuppance!" Sunbeam yelled as she flitted toward Zenjin in an attempt to give him a beatdown and get revenge for the cruel things he said to her.

Unfortunately for her, he didn't even bother to notice her this time. He zipped right past her like he's about to attack someone. As it turns out, he is. But he didn't attack any of the girls or Jiroemon.

Kyoya finally managed to get down on the concrete only to find himself receiving a very strong blow to his face, knocking him away and causing him to roll on the pavement. The girls gasped with horror. Before he could get up and see what, or who, punched him just now, he suddenly found himself unable to breathe. He could feel a set of fingers digging into his neck and himself being lifted into the air. He opened his eyes and looked down to find Zenjin, with both hands gripping his neck, digging into the skin without any mercy, the silver haired boy's teeth grinding and crimson red eyes completely bloodshot, brimming with absolutely nothing but undiluted rancor and malice.

"YOU SHOULDN'T EXIST!" Zenjin yelled in his highest voice possible, and it was literally dripping with hostility and hatred for his bespectacled redhead. Riko covered her ears, but courage blazed in her heart. "I DID AWAY WITH YOU LONG AGO! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! I AM ZENJIN NOW! YOU DON'T EXIST ANYMOOORE!"

"Let him go!" Riko screamed as she jumped on Zenjin and tried to force him off of Kyoya, but the silver haired child virulently renounced her by shooting a ball of red light at her with one of his free hands, releasing his grip on Kyoya by one hand.

"Riko!" Marina managed to grab Riko with her arms and keep her from getting hurt. This gave Kyoya ample opportunity to punch Zenjin square in the cheek, forcing him to release his grip on the bespectacled redhead. This time, Hotaru managed to grab him before he could fall on the concrete pavement and hurt himself. But Zenjin wasn't going to give up yet. No he wouldn't. As soon as he regained his balance he charged at Kyoya yet again, knocking Hotaru out of the way and pinning the helpless redhaired boy down on the pavement. This time, Zenjin tried to punch Kyoya in the face, but the red haired boy managed to evade every single one of them simply by canting his head in different directions.

"Get off me, you psycho!" Kyoya yelled as he tried to squirm free, but Zenjin didn't look like he had any intention of letting him go.

"Get off him right now!" Anzu and Marina both tried to pry Zenjin off of him, but again, the choleric silver haired teenager knocked them all away with another beam of energy. What they didn't know was that Jiroemon is finally conscious and standing up...only to find that the first thing he's seeing is his son being pinned down by a crazed silver haired child.

The same rude child that attacked him earlier.

"HEY! LET GO OF MY SON!" Jiroemon yelled vehemently as he tackled Zenjin like a football player, knocking him off of the pavement, freeing Kyoya.

"Dad!" Kyoya shouted upon being freed, relieved that his father is okay. Now it's Jiroemon's turn to be choleric as he gripped a surprised Zenjin's purple ruffle and lifted him by the shirt.

"Don't EVER lay another hand on my son, you punk! I oughta report you to the police!" Jiroemon shouted passionately, his paternal instincts kicking in, growling like a father wolf protecting its children from predators. He didn't seem to notice or care that Zenjin's face is wracked with fear, like he's face-to-face with someone he wanted nothing more than to get the heck away from at all costs, unable to move. Finally, he smacked Jiroemon in the face and teleported away.

"Come back here, you brat!" Jiroemon shouted. No response. Zenjin is long gone.

"Dad.." Kyoya muttered softly. Jiroemon turned around to find Kyoya sitting on the concrete without his wheelchair. His previous anger dissipated, getting replaced with tsunamis of relief and worry.

"Kyoya!" Jiroemon exclaimed tearfully as he ran over to his son and embraced him with his large, bulky arms, squeezing him as tightly as he could muster, like he never wanted to let go. "Thank God you're safe! I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you again because of me!" Jiroemon wailed as he hugged his red haired son.

"Dad...thanks...crushing...me…" Kyoya croaked, helplessly pushing on his dad's vest in a failed attempt to get out of his ridiculously tight embrace. Finally, Jiroemon lessened his grip.

"I'm sorry...Kyoya...it's my fault you're paralyzed. I…I wish I could turn back time and change the tires so we wouldn't have had to stop in the middle of the road-" Jiroemon muttered with some tears streaming out from his eyes, trickling down into his beard. It broke Kyoya's heart to see his father so sad. Better yet, he's never seen his father sad at all! But nevertheless, it was still extremely heartwrenching. Kyoya smiled and put a hand on his tearful father's tear stained cheek.

"It's not your fault, Dad. You didn't know we'd get a flat tire. You didn't know that drunk driver was gonna hit me. How could you? It's not like you can see into the future or anything. I didn't know. You didn't know, and there was no way you could have been able to do anything. I don't blame you. Besides, I'm here now, aren't I?" Kyoya told him kindly, in a dulcet voice. Hearing this made Jiroemon's heart go warm. But then he suddenly felt woozy and collapsed onto his son. "Whoa! Dad!"

"Aaaand he's down," Marina piped in. Kyoya gently laid his unconscious father's head on the ground.

"He's tired and frazzled. I get that," Kyoya muttered as Riko went to grab his wheelchair and push it toward him.

"Need help getting in?" Riko asked as she brought it to him.

"No thanks. I can do it," Kyoya said when he put his hand on the wheelchair and slowly pulled himself back into it. "There! That should do it," He said as he sat back onto the seat.

Marina put a hand on Riko's arm. "Come on, Riko! We've gotta make a break for it!" She hissed, but Riko didn't budge. Instead, she just stood there with a dejected look on her face like she's about to start crying.

"Kyo-chan...I'm sorry. We can turn into superheroes. Do...do you hate me for it? If you do, I don't mind-" Riko muttered sadly, already fearing the worst until Kyoya cut her off...but not with the reaction she expected.

"Man, you were awesome out there, Riko! All of you!" Kyoya suddenly piped in, his emerald eyes gleaming with excitement and joy and his smile radiant like a fan getting their favorite celebrity's autograph. "You can really turn into superheroes?! That's sooooo cool! Thanks for saving me back there! I can't believe it! My friends are real life superheroes! This is the awesomest thing ever!"

Riko's initial fears finally went away. _'Kyo-chan...doesn't hate me? He doesn't think me being a superhero is bad? He...actually appreciates what I've done for him?'_ Riko thought, unable to comprehend Kyoya's unexpected reaction. This is quite an alien concept to her. On her first transformation, the townspeople lambasted her and threw things at her, thinking she was a villain despite trying her hardest to save them. They didn't even give her so much as a thank you. They didn't even listen when she tried to convince them that she was only trying to help, completely ignoring her in favor of their own preconceived notions. But here...Kyoya is happy. He likes the fact that she's a brand new superhero. He's grateful for what she's done, and appreciated the fact that she did try to save him from Zenjin despite the latter getting the upper hand. Riko could feel some more tears trickling out, but this time, they're tears of joy.

"Thank you...Kyo-chan…" Riko mused gratefully.

"Awww, man! He knows! Why'd you have to get us busted, huh?! You're supposed to keep our Pretty Cure identities a secret, remember?!" Marina yelped angrily. Riko didn't notice, as she's too happy right now.

"Hey! Quit it! I figured out it was her right away. She has the same eyes, voice, and body type. Don't make it sound like she did it on purpose!" Kyoya snapped, not happy with Marina yelling at Riko.

"By the way, how DID you get here anyway?" Hotaru asked.

"How did I get here, you ask? That bratty little pink plushie thingy dragged me all the way here against my will!" Kyoya exclaimed boldly, pointing to Lovebeam, who looked dejected as her three angry younger sisters began scolding her.

"You should not have been so reckless, Lovebeam! If you really wanted to distract the monster, you could have done it in a way that wouldn't have caused any destruction, but because you acted so brashly, you exacerbated the damage done to the neighborhood!" Starbeam scolded gently.

"You ALWAYS do this! You almost got people killed, Lovebeam! People could have died because of you! We tried to stop you, but did you listen to a thing we said?! Noooo!" Sunbeam yelled vehemently, not nearly as merciful as Starbeam was being. "Why do you always have to make everything difficult?! You don't even apologize!"

"I wasn't! I was just trying to help! I can't believe you'd treat me this way after I've been alone, tired, hungry, and worrying myself to death for you!" Lovebeam whined petulantly, but this time, she actually seems genuinely sad that her sisters are yelling at her despite all they've been through.

"Quit with the little woe is me poor little you act!" Sunbeam yelled.

"I think that's enough, Sunbeam. She's been through a lot, just like we have," Moonbeam told her fiery sister gently, in her soft, sweet little voice. Finally, Sunbeam calmed down and decided enough is enough.

"Honestly, though, I'm glad you're all okay, and I'm sorry for worrying all of you," Lovebeam said.

"So...who is she again?" Marina asked, confused.

"I'll introduce you. This is our oldest sister, Lovebeam," Moonbeam introduced her kindly.

Lovebeam winked and pushed back one of her ears. "Ohh! A new audience? It's ever so nice to meet you! I'm their big sister, the oldest and prettiest in the family!"

Sunbeam rolled her eyes. "There she goes again."

They decided to sit under the shade of an untouched tree and explain everything to Kyoya and Lovebeam. Once they got the gist of everything, they became less frazzled. But once Lovebeam heard everything, her charmingly sweet, pudgy little face suddenly turned sour.

"My oh my! You four are the legendary Pretty Cures? I honestly don't see how you four can be them!" Lovebeam exclaimed. She suddenly pointed at Anzu. "You look evil with those black clothes!" She pointed to Marina. "You look like you'd destroy everything in the blink of an eye!" She pointed to Hotaru. "You look nerdy and don't look like a very capable leader!" Finally, she pointed to Riko. "You look like the weakest of them all! You don't look like you can do much of anything! And you're wimpy and stupid looking, too!"

"Lovebeam! That's not nice! Apologize right now!" Moonbeam scolded, appalled by Lovebeam's inopportune bluntness. She felt it necessary to put her foot down despite being the youngest. "You should know better than to be so ungrateful and to judge people based on how they look! That's one of the laws of Rozaniela! Now apologize right now!"

"Jeez, and she's supposed to be the youngest sister," Marina mused irritably, her golden eyes squinting in an offended way in response to Lovebeam's caustic comments.

Sunbeam floated over to Riko and whispered in her ear, "Told ya she's a brat."

"Yeah. I know," Riko muttered in response.

"Sorry…" Lovebeam muttered reluctantly.

"Say it like you mean it, you spoiled brat!" Sunbeam yelled, not convinced or satisfied with Lovebeam's monotone sounding apology.

"There's something I've been meaning to bring up," Hotaru piped in. The kids and fairies all turned around to look at her and see what she had to say. "We have four fairies here, and there are five of us. Who's going to take on the responsibility of taking care of all of them?"

"Oh. I never...thought about that before. Moonbeam and Sunbeam have always stayed with me," Riko said.

"One person alone can't take care of four little fairies. Our parents might find out," Kyoya said.

"Hey! Here's an idea!" Anzu exclaimed cheerfully, standing as straight as a newly blooming sunflower. "How about we each take care of one fairy each day and rotate it every day so that we're not stuck with the same fairy every day!"

"That's a great idea! I like it!" Kyoya piped in.

"What do you little ones think?" Riko asked.

"I agree. It'll be a great way to get to know everyone better!" Moonbeam piped in sweetly.

"It certainly is," Starbeam said sweetly.

Lovebeam pouted. "I don't wanna."

"Sorry, but you lose to the majority, so deal with it!" Sunbeam sneered.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to anyway! I'm gonna stay with Kyoya-kun forever!" Lovebeam exclaimed as she flew over to Kyoya and sat on his lap.

"Hey! Don't decide stuff for me! You're just gonna mess up my room again!" Kyoya snapped.

"But you said you'd let me stay with you!" Lovebeam whimpered, using her sad, googly-eyed face.

"Only until you found your sisters!" Kyoya retorted back. Everyone burst into laughter upon seeing Lovebeam and Kyoya bicker like a husband and wife.

"Kyo-chan. Sorry you had to get wrapped up in this mess," Riko told him ruefully.

"I don't mind at all! I think it's cool you're all superheroes and stuff! I just wish I could help you guys out in some way," Kyoya replied cheerfully.

"I'll stay with Anzu for the time being, if that's okay," Moonbeam said.

"Sure. That's totally fine," Anzu said with a sweet smile.

"Can I hang out with you tonight, Riko?" Sunbeam asked.

"Sure!" Riko replied sweetly.

"So I guess I'm stuck with you then?" Marina asked Starbeam, who nodded.

"So that means I'm the only one without a fairy. That's fine. Whoever doesn't have a fairy can have a day off whenever possible," Hotaru piped in with a smile. Kyoya, the girls, and the fairies all burst into laughter, happy that they're sitting around, hanging out the way they are now. Riko couldn't help but wish this moment could go on forever. She never felt happier.


	8. Riko's First Ever Friend Get Together!

Chapter 8: Don't Ruin Our Day! Riko's First Ever Friend Get-Together!

A grumpy Zenjin sat on his tacky black bed, with one of the bloody red, roll cake-like cushions tucked underneath one of his arms, gazing listlessly at the transparent white canopy dangling around him like a ridiculously long bride's veil. His room is lit up with dimly lit candles that are hung all over his midnight blue walls, their little flames dancing on the wax. His long crimson red boots slumped in front of the foot of the bed, so his pale white feet are exposed, revealing that his black pants go down to slightly above his ankles. His sparkling, sterling silver hair dangled on the grey pillows his head rested on, his golden diadem sitting a little ways above his head, having slipped off once he plopped himself on there just minutes before. He slowly extended his right arm, the one without the cushion underneath it, up into the air, like he's reaching for the transparent white lacy canopy, only he doesn't really want to grab it or anything. He just stared listlessly at his hand, covered with a black fingerless glove, his fingers long, pencil thin, and oddly spindly, like it was the first time he ever saw a human hand, let alone his own.

All he wants to do is go to sleep and not think about those annoying Pretty Cures that keep getting in the way of his fun. But he couldn't, because images of Kyoya, the red haired, bespectacled boy from before, kept flashing through his mind like a fast and furiously moving film reel. The memory of attacking him like a ferocious and rabid wild animal ran through his mind again. His anger since then had disappeared, but the face of the innocent, red haired, bespectacled child didn't. His cherry hued, crimson eyes gleamed with a kind of odd wonder to them, like a child mesmerized by beautiful flashing lights, only he's not really staring at anything. It's like he's staring through his hand. He crossed his long, spindly legs in a pretzel shape despite still lying down on his black comforter.

"That red haired kid...he looks a lot like me," Zenjin mused to himself in a low, almost soft whisper, which even he himself found odd. He hadn't used a low, soft, indoor voice for a long time. "I can't believe he looks so much like my old self."

After another silent moment, he growled like a petulant child, sat back up on his bed, and threw his red cushion at a set of silver drawers, knocking a little pale green, rose decorated Victorian vase off of it, sending it crashing to the floor. _CRASH!_ It shattered into fragments of many sizes, lying on the floor, broken and unable to be fixed. The red cushion fell onto the floor and rolled back to the foot of the bed, stopped by Zenjin's long red boots.

"Aaaagh! Get a hold of yourself, Zenjin! You're not a wimpy little weakling anymore! You're Zenjin now, and you're way stronger now that you have all the power in the world to do whatever the heck you want!" Zenjin growled as he rubbed both of his hands in his silvery hair like he's trying to get bugs out of them, taking practically no notice of the damage he just did. He grunted right afterward. "So what if he looks like you? There's lots of people out there who look a bit alike!"

He thought he was alone. But he isn't.

"My, this is quite an interesting bachelor pad you have here, Zenny boy," A deep, rich, male voice suddenly piped in out of nowhere, frightening the grumpy and choleric Zenjin into leaping off of his bed and taking on a battle stance.

"Who's there?!" Zenjin yelped angrily, ready for battle as he saw a black shadow, obscured by the darkness, waltz into his hallway.

"Huh? You mean to tell me you don't recognize my voice, Zenny? I thought you'd be able to recognize it after five years," The voice said.

Once the dark silhouette came into the room, the darkness obscuring it dissipated, his true identity revealed by the dim candlelight. The man is tall and regal, looking to be in at least his early thirties, with long, shimmering, light emerald green hair flowing down his body like vines sticking to the walls of a very old house, complete with a short but thick beard on his face, with a new mustache to match. His eyes are a lively shade of cherry red, looking quite vibrant and illustrious, just like his extravagant clothing. His clothes looked like they were ripped right out of the 18th century: a crimson coat over a crimson shirt, all embroidered with shining gold lace on the corners, from the edges of the pockets all the way to his collar. Even the buttons on his coat are gold. He also wore matching crimson pants that only went down to his knees, with four black buttons on each side of them, going up from his pant legs vertically. He also wore very tall, pristine, snow white socks coupled with moccasins that had lots of orange and sky blue patterns sewn on them, like they really were made by real Native Americans who lived before America was discovered by the Europeans. A curly white lace ruffle hung from the man's collar, matching the ruffles that came out of the cuffs on his sleeves. A rapier sheath hung from his waist, looking ready to be drawn for battle.

Now that Zenjin got a good look at the green haired, elegantly dressed man in front of him, his previous anger dissipated like it had never been there in the first place, getting replaced with a look that was quite alien to him: pure, unadulterated joy. His crimson red eyes widened, gleaming with the kind of joy a little child would get when he'd get a new toy, a huge, radiant, sun shiny smile got painted on his face without his knowing, and as soon as his eyes fixated on the green haired man, he dropped his battle stance and proceeded to dash toward the green haired man like a child whose father returned from war.

"Decebal!" Zenjin cried out happily as he cheerfully and happily glomped the green haired man, Decebal, and wrapped his skinny little arms around him like an overly happy and enthusiastic child. Decebal put his hands on Zenjin's red cape and stroke him gently, smiling like a father who's happy to be home after a long time overseas.

"Sorry I couldn't come earlier, Zenny. It was hard trying to sneak out of Rozaniela unnoticed, and the citizens just would not stop asking me questions and forcing me to clean up the mess you made, which I really don't think needs any cleaning up," Decebal told him kindly, in a fatherly tone.

"I thought you'd never get here! You had me worried!" Zenjin exclaimed happily. "Oh! By the way, where's Beileag? Isn't she supposed to be here too?"

"She has some things she has to take care of. That, and she's having a bit of trouble finding this alternate dimension, even though I told her how to get here," Decebal replied as Zenjin finally released him and calmed down a bit. "By the way, did you really make all of this? This is a pretty fancy looking bachelor pad you have here."

"It's not a bachelor pad! This is my new fortress, AND our home!" Zenjin exclaimed with his arms outstretched and facing the ceiling. But a look of confusion overtook his pale face. "What is a bachelor pad anyway?" He asked in a soft, confused voice.

Decebal couldn't help but chuckle at Zenjin's lack of knowledge. "Oh, goodness! That evil woman really deprived you of even the most basic knowledge of your own world, didn't she?" Decebal laughed through his words. After a few seconds of laughing, he calmed down and decided to explain. "A bachelor pad is slang for a house that only one man lives in all by himself, nobody else."

"Ohhhh. I see. But anyway, I'm seriously glad you're here, because there's something I really gotta tell you about!" Zenjin exclaimed, remembering the Pretty Cures.

"What's got you all in a tizzy? Other than the Energia making you more hormone addled than usual?"

"You'll never believe this! I found out I can look into people's Soul Portals and see every little thing about them! Their dreams, personalities, memories, insecurities, the most private of private thoughts they have, information about other people they know, etc. I can also rip out people's souls and turn them into black, animal-like monsters! It's so cool! I call them Human Trash!"

"My, that's quite a feat you've accomplished there! You'll have to show me how to do it sometime," Decebal replied, donning a mischievous smirk, his cherry red eyes gleaming with a more adult curiosity.

"But there's just one problem though," Zenjin said, his smile fading. "This annoying little band of trashy girls who call themselves Pretty Cure keep getting in my way and ruining my fun!" Zenjin complained as he sat back on his bed like a petulant child forced to go into time out.

"Pretty Cure?" Decebal asked as he sat down on the bed next to him. "I've heard of those. The Queen said they're legendary warriors who once saved Earth and Rozaniela many decades ago. I didn't know there are more."

"Me neither. I didn't find out until last week. But they keep going on and on about how it's wrong to rip people's souls out and take advantage of the people I'm hurting yadda yadda yadda! Blech! I just wanna deck'em every time they spout all that stupid saccharine garbage!"

"That sounds quite troublesome. If you want, I'd be more than happy to help you out, Zenny."

The excited, childlike gleam and smile from before returned to Zenjin's eyes and face. "Really?! You will?! You're awesome, Decebal! I'm glad you're my pseudo-dad!" Zenjin exclaimed happily as he embraced his adoptive father, Decebal, again, just like before, making the green haired man laugh merrily.

"You're gonna have to show me how to make these Human Trash. I don't know how!" Decebal replied happily through his chuckling.

"Don't worry! It's super easy!"

* * *

After a tough day of dealing with a Corrupt Sentinel, or Human Trash as Zenjin calls them, and the fact that they finally found the last of the fairy sisters, Lovebeam, who is quite a naughty little spoiled brat, Riko just could not wait for Thursday to arrive. Riko's actually going to have friends come over and hang out with her, just like other classmates usually do! For Riko, this'll be a dream come true! All throughout the rest of the day, she palavered on and on about how she, Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina are going to hang out, play games, watch TV, and talk about whatever they could talk about. But because she went on and on about it throughout practically the entire day, she got mixed reactions from her family.

"You might want to calm down a little, Riko. It's great to see you so excited, but when they do come over, you might want to keep your excitement to a minimum. I don't want them to change their mind," Saki piped in.

"Oh, let her be excited. It's not every day she gets to have friends over, so let's be happy for her and help her out when she needs it," Arinao piped in.

"You're majorly excited about this, aren't you?" Hikage asked.

"Will you quit going on and on and on about it already?! Shut up! We're sick of hearing you talk about this all day! No one wants to hear you talk about your stupid imaginary friends! Grow up and get over it, you big baby!" Rina snapped, having had enough of Riko's excessive excitement and enthusiasm.

"Rina! Watch your mouth and eat the rest of your spinach!" Saki scolded.

"But I hate spinach!" Rina shouted back.

"You hate everything. Spinach is good for you, so eat it or no dessert," Hikage told her sternly. Riko already finished her dinner and went back to her room, while making sure she spared some food for Sunbeam.

Riko's excitement and pure, unadulterated joy just could not be contained or sealed in a box, no matter how much people tried to seal it up because they didn't like it. Riko didn't care if Rina didn't like it or not. She's going to be happy, and nobody's going to stop her from being happy. In fact, her cup of happiness overflowed so much she decided to put on her favorite cat ears and tail and pretend to be a cat in her room, making meow noises and jumping all over the room. Sunbeam couldn't believe what she was seeing. What twelve year old girl pretends to be a cat or rambles on and on about things normal preteens don't when they're happy? But it was more out of confusion than anything. Instead of finding it unsettling or odd, Sunbeam actually found it to be rather cute. It did make her happy to see Riko happy, so perhaps a little bubbly weirdness won't hurt. Besides, she's not hurting anybody, and she's doing it in her room, so it's fine. After that, Riko worked on some homework, finished it, took a bath, played with Sunbeam, blow dried her hair, and went to sleep, still impatient for tomorrow to come.

Finally, tomorrow did arrive. But not in the way Riko expected. While deep in sleep, Riko found herself being dragged out of dreamland by a sniveling sound. She woke up to find that her room is still a little dark, with little peeks of light blue rays coming through her window shades, brightening it up just a little bit. The sun hasn't peeked over the horizon yet. Still tucked underneath her thick blankets, Riko squirmed around to turn herself over so she could see what's making the sniveling noise. That was all it took. Sunbeam is sleeping next to her. With tears streaming down her chubby orange cheeks. Her little hands are covering her eyes, which are squeezed shut.

Finding the sight to be unsettling, Riko found herself wide awake with worry and concern. But it didn't take very much to figure out exactly what's causing Sunbeam to cry softly in her sleep right away. "Sunbeam?" She crooned quietly. Sunbeam uncovered her eyes, opened them, and turned to look at the concerned Riko. The tears just would not stop. Her pudgy orange face is completely tomato red from so much crying, and she even hiccuped a little. But she didn't seem to want to stop, not that Riko expected her to.

Riko pushed part of the blanket off of herself. "Do you want to snuggle with me?" Riko asked. Without hesitation, Sunbeam crawled over to Riko and nuzzled against her white, red rose decorated pajama shirt, still crying softly. As groggy and concerned Riko is for Sunbeam's heartbreak over what happened, she's at least happy Sunbeam isn't crying loudly. She didn't want any members of her family waking up and finding a crying stuffed animal in her bed or kicking her out, exacerbating the situation even more.

Riko then pulled out what appeared to be a small, old, slightly worn, white blanket with pink, blue, purple, and white markings on it edged with white velvet fabric. She very silently, carefully, and gently draped it over the still sniveling Sunbeam. Once her pudgy little orange body was covered, Riko very gently stroke Sunbeam's ears and head with her hands, hoping caressing her would at least let her know that even though Riko doesn't know how to help her cope with the cruel revelation, she's at least there to lend her a shoulder she can cry on. Sunbeam seemed to get the message. Words aren't always needed to tell people what they need to hear. After a few minutes, Sunbeam finally stopped crying and fell back asleep. She snored soundly, but Riko kept her close, not wanting to let the little orange fairy wake back up in tears again.

'_I never thought I'd ever see the day where I'd comfort someone who's sad. I'm usually the one who's crying and needing someone to hug me, and whenever I would try to help someone, they'd tell me to go away or leave them alone. Very angrily, at that,'_ Riko thought as she continued to stroke the sleeping orange fairy. She remembered times when she'd have a bad day and come home crying like crazy, yearning for someone to hug her, stroke her, and tell her everything would be alright, even though it usually wouldn't be, and Arinao, Saki, and Hikage always gave her mountains of hugs, kisses, and kind, well intentioned reassurances whenever possible. Despite the feeling being quite alien to her, she could feel her heart fill to the brim with a kind of motherly warmth. She wondered if this is what a mother feels when comforting her child or holding a baby in her arms. As soon as that thought entered her mind, her eyes closed all on their own, taking her back to her happy Riko dreamland.

For about another hour, anyway. At promptly 7:00 AM, Riko woke up and got herself ready for her long awaited Thursday. She decided to put on her perfectly planned outfit for today: beige pants, white and purple star themed socks, a cotton candy pink shirt with round, puffed sleeves and a matching ribbon sewn on the left part of the collar, and a grey unzipped sweater since it's still chilly outside.

"That shirt looks cute on you," Sunbeam piped in, waking up to see Riko fully dressed and chipper.

"You think so? Thanks. I thought I'd look nice today since everyone's gonna come over today," Riko said as she packed her textbooks and notebooks into her book bag, along with a book, _Comet In Moominland_(1). After that, she ate breakfast, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and went off to school. Even in homeroom, her excitement couldn't be contained, especially once she met up with Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina, who, admittedly, looked a little surprised by Riko's infectious cheer and joy.

"Jeez, Riko. Take a chill pill. I've never seen you this happy before," Marina asked, a little cowed by Riko's bubbly demeanor today.

"I've never ever had friends over my house before! That's why! I can't wait for you all to come! We're gonna play games, watch anime, read books, and talk, talk, talk!" Riko palavered happily.

"Me either. I'm gonna bring a bunch of my games so we can have Pokemon battles and that kind of stuff. I am so gonna beat you," Kyoya told her.

"Yay! Pokemon battles!" Riko squealed cutely as she whipped her arms around Kyoya and hugged him, causing his emerald eyes to widen with surprise. "This'll be super duper awesome! Man, I want school to end already!"

"Me too. We'll bring the fairies so they can hang out too. Is that okay?" Anzu asked with a sweet smile, charmed by Riko's vibrant and happy attitude instead of a little freaked out like Marina.

"Sure! Just be sure to keep them quiet around my parents and siblings. My little sister loves making a big deal out of everything I do so if she finds out they're real, she'll go on and on about it like no tomorrow and tell everybody who'll listen and make us miserable!" Riko explained.

"Kinda like how you're going on and on about this?" Marina asked sarcastically. Riko didn't pay her any heed.

"Ohh! I can't wait to have you guys over! It'll be so much fun! We're gonna play games, watch anime, read manga, eat food, and I'll be able to show you guys my house and my room and everything in it! This is a dream come true!" Riko's so wrapped up in her lovely little fantasy about having her friends over that she's completely closed off from everything and everyone else right now. Anzu and Kyoya didn't mind. Marina's still a little weirded out by how she keeps talking about it non-stop, but she's not as cowed as before. Riko had her hands clasped together and her emerald eyes are literally radiant with joy. Unfortunately, someone was intent on destroying that joy and knocking the gleam right out of her eyes.

"Will you shut your big fat mouth, you retard?! No one wants to hear you ramble on and on about nothing!" The girl who assaulted Riko before, Yoshie, shouted vehemently from across the room, finally stopping Riko from going on further. But Yoshie wound up getting mean looks from Kyoya, Anzu, Marina, and the teacher in response.

"Mind your own business, you snob!" Anzu shot back.

"I'd like to if you tell your brain dead idiot friend to shut her hole! Her screechy voice is making my ears bleed!" Yoshie snapped back.

"Your voice is way screechier!" Marina piped in venomously.

"Enough. Inoue, that was uncalled for. You're getting detention with me today!" Mrs. Omori suddenly exclaimed as she stepped in front of Yoshie's desk sternly.

"Why me? I'm just trying to do my work but that idiot won't shut up! Nobody's interested in her stupid get together! It's ruining my concentration!" Yoshie whined petulantly.

"I'm not playing games here. You're coming to detention with me right when school ends, and I don't want to hear any excuses either!" Mrs. Omori scolded again. Yoshie pouted and slumped in her seat, but not before shooting Riko a dirty look that said, _'It's your fault this is happening! I'm gonna deck you for this!'_ Riko found herself slumping in her own seat, her previous joy dissipating. A group of boys a few seats down burst into laughter like they were watching a comedy act. Once Mrs. Omori gave them the stinkeye as well, they stopped. But it didn't make Riko feel any better.

Despite this, she resolved to get through the day, since she had been looking forward to it for quite a while. As they say, good things come to those who wait. For the most part, the day went by rather fine. Nobody acted out in class, the lessons were still easy as pie to do, she listened intently and took notes when needed, and made sure to avoid any drama. But all throughout, she kept on dreaming fancy little dreams about her friends coming over. She'd be the host of the get-together, offering them food or drinks when they asked, asking which anime they want to watch or books they want to read or if they want to play games like hide and seek or tag. Sure, preteen girls don't play these things, but who says all preteen girls don't play them? There has to be some who do. Not everybody's the same or has the same interests. Anzu and Marina don't like dressing in flashy, promiscuous clothes or putting on makeup and nail polish or go get their hair done at those fancy expensive salons or beautify themselves or talk endlessly about boys and going on eternal dates with them or that mushy stuff. They certainly didn't look like they'd do all that. Riko knew she isn't one of those girls, like Yoshie. No, they'd do their own thing, and nobody would stop them. She'd especially try to make sure Rina won't ruin it with her mouthiness and tendency to point out Riko's flaws and eccentricities to anyone who'd listen at the top of her lungs.

Later on, Riko found herself leaning against the rusty silver fence, reading the book she brought with her, lost in the happy little halcyon Moominvalley while Anzu, Kyoya, and Marina are nearby, lost in their own conversations and chattering. The piercing screams of other kids playing and chasing each other around did not pull Riko out of Moominvalley at all. She's completely stuck there, wondering if the comet is really going to destroy the peaceful land in which her favorite characters dwell in. All of a sudden, the happy little Moominvalley suddenly got yanked out of her hands, mercilessly pulling her out of it and back to Earth, her little hands completely empty with nothing but air.

"Hey!" Riko shouted angrily, not pleased with this sudden development. The culprit didn't even bother to hide himself! The culprit is a slightly rotund boy a little taller than she, with very messy, spiky brown hair with split ends all over the place, and midnight blue eyes that didn't look like they had a care in the world. A few messy red pimples dotted his face and chin, and he's wearing a dirty white and dark blue striped hoodie over a pale green shirt with a big number 15 on it in red, crimson red jean shorts, sagging black and white socks, and huge black and white basketball sneakers. With Riko's book in one of his big, chubby hands, he examined it with his peering eyes.

"That's mine! Give it back!" Riko tried to grab it, but he kept moving so as to make sure she didn't get it. After a while, he seemed to chuckle like he saw the funniest thing ever.

"Comet in Moominland? So da rumors about you readin' baby stuff are true!" The boy sneered maliciously.

"I said give it back!" Riko tried to grab it again, but he smacked her with his free hand.

"Make me, baby! Hey Shimura! Heads up!" The rotund boy threw her book toward someone else. She tried to grab it, but it fell into another boy's hands.

"Yous up for a game of monkey in the middle, you big baby?" The spiky haired boy teased as the other boy, Shimura, threw the book back to him. But before he could throw it back, he felt a strong grip on his chubby arm, and the book slipped out of his chubby fingers. He angrily turned around to find Anzu behind him, with the book in her hands, giving him a cold hard stare with those lime green eyes of her.

"Quit picking on Riko, Yuji! That was mean!" Anzu scolded as Riko ran to her, expecting her book back. Silently, Anzu gave it back, giving Riko some relief.

"Stay outta our business you blonde goth!" The other boy, Shimura, snapped back.

"Yeah! We don't like losers! Especially little babies who read baby books and talk and act like babies, like your retard friend Tasogare over there!" The spiky haired boy, Yuji, called back, which made him and Shimura burst into an inopportune paroxysm of laughter.

But out of nowhere, Yuji found the back of his shirt getting furiously yanked and he found himself about to fall backwards. The front of his shirt rubbed against his neck, choking him a little bit, but not to a fatal degree.

"I dare you to say that again, fatso!" Kyoya proclaimed with a choleric gleam in his emerald eyes as he kept a strong grip on the back of Yuji's shirt. Soon, Yuji broke free and flung one of his flabby legs at Kyoya, hoping to kick him in the abdomen and render him unable to breathe. But Kyoya pushed his joystick and managed to move backwards, bereaving the choleric rotund boy of the opportunity.

"Shut up, Four Eyed Cripple!" Yuji snapped back as he then tried to grab Kyoya by the shirt and yank him into the air.

"Hey! Let him go!" Both Anzu, Marina, and Riko managed to hold Yuji back and keep him from laying another hand on him. Unfortunately, Yuji broke out of their grasp, smacked Riko in the face to the point where she fell on the concrete, and spat on her, leaving a huge gob of saliva on her left arm.

"Ewww!" Riko whined.

"Dat's wha'cha get for bein' a big retard baby, yo!" Yuji snapped back. Right after he said that, he felt something hard press on his sneaker covered foot, forcing him to yelp in extreme pain. "YOOOOWCH!"

It was Marina's foot pressing on his without any mercy. "If you know what's good for you, I suggest you get your big fat stinky elephant butt outta here!" Marina sneered.

"Oh, what? You's gonna knock me to the ground and hit me just like your criminal dad does?" Yuji snapped in a condescending voice as he pushed Marina off of him, not as hard as he did Riko. Anzu gently helped Riko back to her feet, pulled out an old napkin, and washed off the saliva from Riko's arm. It didn't get on her clothes, thank goodness. "You gonna go to jail if ya hit me!"

"Shut up, you!" Riko snapped, still appalled by Yuji's persistence and complete lack of remorse and tact. Marina repressed the raging urge to beat the kid into a bloody pulp, as that really would get her in trouble, and he'd be right.

"What's going on here?" A male teacher asked as he and another girl, not Fukiko, arrived on the scene.

"Kosaka hurt Riko and spat on her!" Kyoya exclaimed unabashedly, pointing to Yuji like he was a defense attorney in a courtroom.

"Ey! Why's you snitchin' on me?! I'mma deck you!" Yuji tried to deck him like he said, but the male teacher grabbed him by the arm in the nick of time.

"You're coming with me to the principal's office and I am calling your mother, young man! I won't stand for any more of this!" The male teacher yelled angrily, causing Riko to cover her ears with her hands, as he dragged the defiant Yuji away from the kids. It didn't help that Yuji's yelling and kicking like a little two year old throwing a tantrum.

"Nobody snitches on me! I'mma kill you!" Yuji yelled as the teacher dragged him into the school against his will.

"You okay, Ri-chan?" Kyoya asked gently, his previous anger having dissipated. Riko nodded dejectedly.

"Kosaka's an idiot. He always picks on people for the fun of it like Inoue does. But don't worry. We'll make sure he doesn't do anything to you," Anzu told her gently, in a dulcet voice.

"It'll never stop," Riko muttered sadly.

"Huh?" Marina asked.

"They always pick on me. They always have and always do. No matter where I go or what I do, it'll never stop! Never ever! I'm sick of it!" Riko suddenly blurted out.

"We know how you feel. But at least we can stick together or tell the teachers," Marina told her, not as angry as she was before.

"I wish they'd just get their act together already," Anzu muttered to herself with her arms crossed. About a few feet away, she glanced at Yoshie and her clique, who are giggling and gossiping amongst themselves. They probably saw what happened and are saying mean things about Riko. Anzu didn't bother to call them out on it. They've had enough excitement for one school day. Hopefully hanging out at Riko's house can help ease the tension a bit.

Trudging through the rest of the school day certainly helped Riko, and when the final bell rang, she reminded her friends of the meeting time and skipped into Saki's car, happy to finally be done with school for the day. No more Yuji or Yoshie to deal with. When Riko got home, she cleaned her room up a little bit, like putting some games in a special box on her bureau and putting her many stuffed animals on her bed and arranging them in a neat pattern so they'll look nice. She noticed Sunbeam sitting quietly on her bed, reading one of Riko's Moomin books. Sunbeam didn't mind Riko putting the stuffed animals around her. They're soft and fuzzy, and Sunbeam didn't mind soft and fuzzy one bit. Riko and Sunbeam then kept themselves occupied for the next hour so Riko wouldn't drive herself crazy waiting for them to come. When the long hand was about two minutes away from covering the twelve sign on Riko's little fairy themed clock, she rushed into the living room, hopped on the big couch and looked out her big window. No sign of Anzu, Kyoya, or Marina.

"Where are they?" Riko mused to herself as she stared out the window. Saki sat on one of the chairs in the living room, reading more of her Kindle.

"They'll be here. Don't worry," Saki told her reassuringly, but Riko paid her no heed. Rina waltzed into the room with a Baby Sitters Club book in her hand.

"Told you she was faking it!" Rina piped in.

"Rina! Zip it!" Hikage snapped from within the dining room as he worked on some rather strenuous calculus homework.

It didn't take long for Rina to be proven wrong in every way possible, as Riko's excited emerald eyes caught sight of a large blonde ponytail swaying in the wind, riding on what appears to be a big green bike. "Yeek! An-chan's here!" Riko squeed happily as she leaped off of the couch, threw her shoes on without putting on any socks, and ran out the door. "An-chaaaan!"

"Hey, Riko!" Anzu said as she got off her bike and found herself getting glomped by an overly happy Riko, who laughed and squeezed her like she didn't want to let go. After a bit, Riko released Anzu from her grasp and let her set her bike on the front yard. "Welcome to the esteemed Tasogare household! Come on in! Come on come on come on!" When Anzu finished, Riko edicted a rather grandiose sounding welcome, took her by the hand, and literally dragged her into the house. Anzu managed to grab her book bag before she got dragged inside.

"An-chan, that's my mom, Saki, my dad, Arinao, my big brother, Hikage, and my little sister, Rina! Mom, Dad, Hikage, and Rina, this is my first ever female friend, Chino Anzu!" Riko introduced Anzu to her family in a rather loud voice, not realizing her voice has gone up an octave or two. But Anzu didn't mind. She just waved her little hand shyly.

"Hi," Anzu mused with a smile as she looked at the woman with the wavy, light brown, low ponytail and emerald eyes, Saki, and the big, teddy bear like man with very short, frizzy black hair and ocean blue eyes, Arinao. Both parents shook Anzu's hand.

"We're very happy to meet you," Arinao said with a smile.

"Riko's told us a whole lot about you. Would you like anything to eat or drink?" Saki told her kindly.

"I'm good for right now. Thanks," Anzu said.

Nobody noticed Rina staring at Anzu with a rather surprised yet not very impressed and even scornful look on her round little face. Rina let every single detail of Anzu sink into her brain: her thick glasses, her large, golden yellow ponytail, her black pants and boots, her black and red hoodie, her pale blue short sleeved shirt underneath, her black and green book bag, and her pale skin. _'She's weird. Is she one of those goths or something? Those are creepy!'_ Rina pondered with her arms crossed. But she didn't dare ask out loud, as Riko would really wail on her if she opened her mouth. But she did cross the creepy part off since Riko and Anzu are chatting and getting along just happily.

"Do you wanna watch any anime with me? I have some really good ones!" Riko asked, her emerald eyes literally gleaming with joy.

Anzu happened to glance out the living room window and noticed a midnight blue van pulling up on the street. "I think Kyoya's here."

"Kyo-chan?!" Riko yelped as she leaped back off the couch. "Be right back!" Riko shouted happily as she dashed out the front door again.

"Riko! Wait!" Saki chased after her, surprised at how quickly she managed to dash out of there like she was some cheetah, even more so by her sudden newfound exuberance and bubbliness.

Hikage chuckled as he turned toward Anzu. "She tends to get a little too excited over stuff she likes sometimes," Hikage told her with a smile.

"I'm exactly like that," Anzu replied as she pulled out a silver Nintendo DS with a little Edward Elric strap dangling from it.

Rina's eyes widened with surprise. _'There's more?! There can't be more! Riko's faking it! She has to be!'_ She screamed in her head. The concept of Riko having actual, real, genuine, non-imaginary friends was as much an alien concept as there being such thing as aliens and ghosts.

Saki did manage to catch up to Riko, but her eyes widened at what was coming out of the midnight blue van. A flat, shiny, silver metal ramp protruded from the van, hitting the ground, and a red haired, bespectacled boy in a wheelchair wheeled onto the sidewalk through it. He's wearing an unbuttoned, green, black and white, long sleeved plaid shirt over a short sleeved black one, light blue jeans, and black and white sneakers.

"Kyo-chan!" Riko cheered as she ran over to Kyoya and trapped him in a hug similar to what Anzu endured just minutes before.

"Hey Riko! Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," Kyoya said as he returned the warm, loving hug by wrapping his own arms around her like he knew her for a long time. Soon, the kids released each other from their embrace, oblivious to the fact that Saki has bewilderment written all over her face. Soon, a woman with short, scraggly crimson hair in a darker shade and soft, gentle looking chocolate brown eyes came onto the sidewalk looking quite happy.

"Hi there! You must be Riko-chan, right? I'm Kayoko, Kyoya's mother. My boy's told me so much about you," The short haired woman, Kayoko, asked, with a face beaming with joy and curiosity, happy to finally meet one of her son's new friends. But Riko suddenly hid behind Saki, clinging to her like a little child overwhelmed by too much sensory stimulation. Kayoko's smile faded and she donned a confused face. So did Kyoya.

"Sorry. She's shy. I'm her mother, Tasogare Saki," Saki said as she gently pried Riko off of her shirt and shook Kayoko's hand.

"It's so nice to meet you and your daughter. Kyo-chan's been going on and on about this get-together for the past week. Oh! This is my husband, Mitomo Jiroemon," Kayoko smiled as she talked to Saki, then noticed her husband next to her with a wooden ramp folded and tucked underneath his big arms. He stopped when Kayoko introduced him. It was here that Arinao suddenly appeared next to Saki.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you. Do you mind if I set this up on your porch?" Jiroemon asked, his face a little red from seeing Saki and Arinao eye his ramp.

Arinao flashed a smile. "Go right ahead," Arinao told him, giving Jiroemon permission to set up the ramp. Kayoko, Saki, and Arinao began chatting among themselves, leaving Riko and Kyoya to go back inside the house once Jiroemon set the ramp up on the Tasogare family's porch.

Anzu peered her eyes away from the floor as she noticed Riko trying to push Kyoya's wheelchair into the house, which she managed to do without any problems. "Hey, you made it!" Anzu exclaimed cheerfully, her lime green eyes radiant with joy.

"Hey! Wanna see the rest of my house?" Riko asked happily as Kyoya got inside.

"Sure! Give us the grand tour, Ri-chan!" Kyoya piped in.

"Okay! This is the living room, over there is the kitchen, over there is the dining room, and way back in there is the den. We have a big flat screen TV in there!" Riko explained as she showed them everything on the floor of the house they're on.

While Riko was giving them the grand tour of the house, as they called it, Riko's parents, Saki and Arinao, and Kyoya's parents, Kayoko and Jiroemon, found themselves completely locked in conversation with one another, feeling unable to break free. But they're quite happy to finally get to know one another thanks to their kids, so they didn't mind one bit. What they didn't know was that they're too wrapped up in palavering away to notice an orange haired girl looking up at them with a bit of a shy, nervous look on her face.

"Um, excuse me…" She muttered shyly, but they didn't notice. Thankfully, she didn't have to resort to yelling or anything like that, because Jiroemon finally turned his head the other way and wound up noticing her.

"Hello. When did you get here?" Jiroemon asked, a little frazzled by the sight of the wavy haired girl standing before him. She's wearing an olive green, unzipped hoodie over a shorter sleeved yellow shirt, beige pants, brown boots, and slung on her back is a dark blue bookbag.

"Oh. Hello, Asagi-san. You're here. The door's open so you can go right in," Arinao told her kindly, pointing to the house.

"Wait wait wait, Asagi?! So you're the wretched girl who constantly bullied my son for the past year and a half!" Kayoko's smiling face literally disappeared like it was never there as soon as she heard the name Asagi. She looked like she wanted to wail on the fearful looking orange haired girl until Jiroemon stood in front of her.

"I think it's time we get going. Let's let the children have fun," Jiroemon explained as he tried to calm Kayoko down and get her inside the car. Kayoko, not wanting to make a scene in front of their new friends, repressed her rage and slumped into the van. Marina didn't go inside, even after they drove away. She looked down at the sidewalk with a dejected look, her golden eyes trembled a bit.

"Maybe coming here was a bad idea," Marina muttered, thinking her voice was low enough to the point where nobody could hear.

"No. It isn't. Come on inside. The kids are waiting," Arinao gently escorted her inside, much to the surprise of both Marina and Saki.

"But...she's right, y'know. I picked on her kid, too. I kinda deserved it," Marina said, her golden eyes wide with surprise because of Arinao not making a big deal about what she's done.

"Everyone deserves a second chance, and you've done more than enough to receive one. Now come on in," Arinao told her gently as he escorted her and Saki inside.

Once Marina was inside, Riko introduced her trio of friends to Hikage and Rina. Hikage was clearly happy to meet them. Before he could introduce himself, all of a sudden, a furry little Australian Shepherd scurried into the room and began barking.

"Arf! Arf!" She yelped, causing Riko to cover her ears.

"Bad, Yumiko! No barking at friends!" Riko scolded as she tried to kneel down and get a grip on Yumiko's collar so she could properly scold her, but the yappy little dog just wouldn't relent until Hikage managed to kneel down and put his hand around her muzzle.

"No. No barking at friends. Bad," Hikage told the little dog firmly and lucidly, even though Yumiko did not like having a hand on her muzzle one bit.

"Sorry. This is Yumiko, my puppy. She barks at strangers, but she's really nice and sweet!" Riko told her.

"Awww! She's so cute! I wish I had a puppy to snuggle!" Anzu crooned sweetly, her lime green eyes sparkling like stars similar to how most anime characters do when they see something cute, awestruck by the cute little pup despite it barking at her earlier.

"What kind of dog is she?" Marina asked curiously, her cheeks developing a sweet, cotton candy pink shade upon seeing the little dog.

"She's a miniature Australian Shepherd," Riko explained.

"Never heard of that one. But she sure is pretty," Marina said. "But if I ever got a dog, it'd be a St. Bernard. They're big and cool and they rescue people!"

"One of my next door neighbors has a St. Bernard puppy. If you ever come over my house sometime, I'd love to introduce you. I've walked him a couple times and he's really friendly!" Kyoya explained.

"I'd love to!" Riko chirped.

Once he finished scolding Yumiko, who went off to play with one of her puppy toys, he shook all of their hands and even set up the Wii for them to play with. He has lots of Wii motes, and he usually uses those for when his own friends used to come over. Rina didn't want to play. She just watched everybody with a curious stare with those evergreen eyes of hers. Not only was Riko actually not faking having friends, she actually has three real friends! Real, human friends, not imaginary ones from Riko's...well, imaginary Riko land. They played Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Riko kept losing whenever she tried to play since she's not very good at playing a Wii or operating the Wii mote, but Anzu, Kyoya, Marina, and Hikage played and laughed and bellowed at their losses and wins like they've done it for years. Riko felt a warm feeling creep into her heart as she played with her trio of friends. Is this what it's like to have friends? To have fun among other people? To be normal? She couldn't help but wonder even as her Pikachu avatar got knocked into oblivion once again by Kyoya's Sonic The Hedgehog avatar. She wished the Moomins were in Brawl, as she'd play as them all the time.

What Riko didn't know was that Marina was wondering the exact same thing, as she herself never got to do these things with other people, even more so with the fact that she's an only child, like Anzu and Kyoya are. People either avoided her like the plague or demonized her every chance they got. Marina never thought she would ever experience this joy. It was so alien to her, she thought it was a dream at first. A nice dream that she never wanted to wake out of. But she wasn't dreaming. She's living in reality, and wow, reality is a lot nicer than she thought it'd be! Is God finally fulfilling her wishes and granting her greatest desires at last? She wasn't sure, but she knew one thing for sure: she doesn't want this fun to end!

When Hikage put away the Wii game, Riko turned to her trio of friends and asked, "You guys want anything to drink?"

"I'm good," Kyoya piped in.

"Same here," Anzu piped in.

"Do you have any orange juice by any chance?" Marina asked lucidly, feeling much more relaxed and comfortable than she was earlier.

"Sure! One glass of orange juice coming right up! Whee!" Riko squealed cheerfully and skipped into the kitchen, but stopped when she felt Saki's hand pat her left shoulder.

"Riko. Can I ask you something?" Saki asked.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Riko asked back as she opened the fridge and pulled the orange juice carton out. Did Saki suddenly change her mind about having friends over now that she's seen them?

"No, not at all. It's just…" Saki sounded hesitant as Riko opened the orange juice carton as slowly as she could so she wouldn't spill anything, but she continued on. "You never told me one of your friends is in a wheelchair. How come you didn't say anything about it?"

'_I knew she was gonna ask about that,'_ Riko thought as she very slowly poured orange juice into a glass cup she got out of the cupboard. "I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus I was afraid that if I told you, you'd decide to change your mind about me being his friend and not like him anymore, or even tell me not to be his friend."

Saki repressed the urge to gasp. Riko actually thought her own mother would change her mind about having a friend over just because he happens to be in a wheelchair? And not only that, she thought she wouldn't approve of her being friends with someone in a wheelchair at all? Saki couldn't believe Riko doubted her that much or even so much as thought of a scenario like that. Once her surprise dissipated, her smile returned and she put her hands on both of Riko's shoulders. "Don't ever think you're not allowed to be friends with people with disabilities. I don't mind at all. Your friends are wonderful kids, and it makes me happy to see you all getting along, especially considering what you've been through. I don't care if they have issues. You're allowed to be friends with whoever you like. I'm just happy you've made some friends at all."

"I did tell him our house isn't wheelchair accessible, but he says he doesn't care," Riko replied.

"I see. I'm also happy you treat him the same as the rest of your friends and don't leave him out. I'm so proud of you, Riko," Saki told her and gave her a quick hug.

"Thanks. Gotta give Mari-chan her orange juice. We can't deprive her of any Vitamin C, now can we?" Riko said as she took the glass and gently walked back to the living room. Saki giggled at what Riko said just now.

Riko slowly handed Marina the orange juice class. "Thanks," Marina said before sipping some.

"You're welcome! I also have some snacks laying around, like cookies and fruit gummies and-" Riko was about to ask if they wanted any snacks until a voice she didn't want to hear interrupted her.

"Hey! How come you're in a wheelchair?" Rina asked Kyoya loud enough for the whole house to hear. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the pint sized girl sizing Kyoya up as soon as Rina popped the inopportune question.

Riko could feel her cheeks burn. "Rina! You can't ask questions like that! It's rude!" Riko piped in.

"I just wanna know!" Rina snapped back.

Kyoya's green eyes developed a kind of mischievous gleam as he crossed his arms, donned a mischievous looking smirk, and leaned toward Rina to make full eye contact with her. "So you're Riko's little sister, huh? I've heard a lot about you. She's right, y'know. It's not polite to ask people personal questions like that, but to answer your question, I was in a car accident, and my legs are weak because of it. I have to use this in order to get around. I'm a lot better now than I used to be, though," Kyoya told her in a firm voice, but it had a somewhat sarcastic tone to it, like he was trying to make Rina eat her words.

Rina didn't notice. "That's so weird." Riko facepalmed.

"You think being in a wheelchair is weird? I actually think it's kinda cool. You should try it sometime, then you'll know what it's like. Plus, there's way weirder stuff out there. Did you know there are people out there who actually marry video game characters?" Kyoya retorted without losing a beat.

Anzu covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, repressing the urge to burst into a paroxysm of laughter. Marina, Riko, and Rina were nothing short of flabbergasted.

'_Jeez, I knew Kyoya could be sarcastic, but he doesn't even spare seven-year-old girls? He doesn't mess around. I'm sorry I ever picked on him,'_ Marina thought.

'_People can marry video games?! That can't be true! I may love my favorite cartoons to death, but I've stopped wanting to marry Snufkin two years ago!'_ Riko thought, completely missing the point.

Rina was so flabbergasted she couldn't even think or say any words. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't, as Saki took her by the hand and led her out of the living room, looking very stern.

"Wow, Kyo-kun. You sure showed her who's boss," Anzu said, having successfully squelched the urge to laugh out loud.

Kyoya flashed a mischievous smile at her. "I don't mess around," Kyoya piped in, feeling proud of managing to make a fool out of the little seven-year-old.

"How do you do it? She never stops talking even when I yell at her," Riko asked curiously.

"I've dealt with a couple brats lately, so I just say it like it is and don't sugarcoat anything. It's better to tell it like it is than beat around the bush, because if you do, they'll think you don't really mean what you say, and sometimes being honest is the best way to beat somebody at their own game," Kyoya explained.

"I wish I could be like that, but everybody tells me it's inappropriate to say some stuff," Riko mused as she looked down and shuffled her feet against the rug.

"That's different, Riko," Hikage interjected.

"Hey! You wanna see my room?" Riko asked.

"Yeah! Sure!" Anzu exclaimed cheerfully, being the first to leap off the couch. Riko escorted her and Marina up the stairs and into her room. But when she got back down, she soon figured out why Kyoya was so adamant about coming over even when she told him her house isn't wheelchair accessible.

He wheeled in front of the stairs and slowly pulled himself out of his chair. He got on all fours at the bottom of the stairs and proceeded to try and climb the stairs on his hands and knees. His hand gripped the fourth stair as Riko walked behind him.

"You're not gonna crawl up the stairs, are you?" Riko asked with worry peppering her sweet, concerned voice.

"Yeah," Kyoya replied rather casually. Actually, a little too casually, like Riko's question was the most normal thing in the world. Even she couldn't help but be a little surprised by the fact that Kyoya doesn't seem to care that she's concerned about his crawling up the stairs.

"It might be dangerous. I don't want you to slip and fall. Can you legs even work enough to help you crawl?" Riko asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I've practiced. Don't worry, Ri-chan. I'll be fine. I've done this lots of times before. Besides, I was serious when I said I'm not as paralyzed as I used to be," Kyoya told her as he managed to pull himself up some more stairs. "The good thing is I've actually gotten some pretty good exercise from doing this a lot!"

'_Wow. Kyo-chan IS serious, but I didn't think he'd be _this_ serious,'_ Riko thought, more flabbergasted at the sight of Kyoya actually managing to climb up some of the stairs without any problems. "Okay. But I'll be down here so in case you fall, you don't get hurt," Riko said as she watched Kyoya vigorously climb the stairs on all fours. After a few grueling minutes, he managed to make it all the way to the top! Not only that, he crawled right into Riko's room, where he and Riko were greeted by all four fairy sisters.

"Hey! Riko-chan! Kyoya-kun! We were wondering when you'd get here," Sunbeam exclaimed cheerfully.

"How'd you all get here? And when?" Riko asked.

"An-chan told me about the get-together, so I thought I'd go and tell the other fairies about it so they could come too. Is that okay?" Moonbeam explained kindly.

"My goodness!" Lovebeam exclaimed petulantly. "Your wardrobe is absolutely bland! There's nothing with any frills or lace or sequins or anything even remotely fit for a girl! It's all T-shirts, jeans, and plain ol' shirts!" Lovebeam tried to rummage through Riko's closet but Starbeam managed to grab one of her ears and keep her from doing any damage.

"You mustn't be so rude, Lovebeam!" Starbeam scolded.

"Umm...how'd you get up here?" Anzu asked, noticing Kyoya without his wheelchair.

"I crawled," Kyoya replied casually as he crawled next to them and arranged his legs in a pretzel shape so he can be at their level.

"It's true. I saw him do it," Riko said.

"But if you can crawl, how come you can't walk?" Sunbeam asked.

"It's just the walking part I need to work on some more. That's all," Kyoya explained.

"Aren't disabled people supposed to be completely incapable of doing anything at all?" Lovebeam asked innocently. As soon as she finished, literally everyone turned to stare at her with flames in their eyes.

"Lovebeam! You should never say stuff like that! That's so mean! Just because someone's disabled in some way doesn't mean they can't do anything at all! How can you be so insensitive?!" Sunbeam screamed, her sky blue eyes blazing with anger, surprised at how completely blunt and insensitive her pink older sister is being.

"The audacity!" Starbeam piped in.

"They are right, y'know. It's inconsiderate to believe they can't do anything just because a part of their body stopped working. How would you like it if you were in an accident, couldn't walk anymore, and were told you couldn't do anything at all? Wouldn't you be sad?" Moonbeam told her kindly. The kids' eyes were as wide as saucers. Moonbeam's the youngest of the quartet of sisters, yet she's talking to Lovebeam in a lucid and stern, yet dulcet, kind, and mature manner, like she's the oldest. Lovebeam looked down at her feet with her purple eyes looking dejected.

"I'm sorry," Lovebeam muttered.

"I don't believe you! You just wanna get out of getting scolded! You don't feel sorry or guilty at all!" Sunbeam exclaimed audaciously and mercilessly with her arms crossed.

"Can we just have fun, please?" Riko asked, a little cowed by how stubborn and merciless Sunbeam is being, even though she herself certainly doesn't like what Lovebeam just said either.

"Oh! Here's an idea! Let's play Would You Rather!" Kyoya suggested.

"Ohh!" Riko's eyes gleamed cheerfully. "I love that game!"

"What's that?" Starbeam asked curiously.

"It's a game we got from a TV show. I give you two really insane choices, and you have to pick which one you have to do!" Kyoya explained. Riko couldn't help but notice he didn't look fazed by Lovebeam's insensitive comment before, like he never heard it. Either he's intentionally trying to ignore it or keeping himself from getting angry. _'I wish I could ignore these things like he can,'_ Riko thought.

"Me first!" Marina exclaimed enthusiastically, raising one of her hands. "Okay...Riko! Would you rather...eat ten live spiders, or...wear the color green for the rest of your life?"

"Ew! I'll wear green forever! I HATE spiders! They're all evil! Plus Snufkin wears green all the time!" Riko exclaimed, flailing her arms around. The kids and fairies all laughed heartily and merrily. Once Riko calmed down, she got back in the game. "My turn. Lovebeam! Would you rather...shave your entire body completely bald or...drink five whole bottles of ketchup?"

"Ugh! I hate this game! Can't I do neither?" Lovebeam complained.

"Nope! You have to pick one! It's the rule!" Riko told her.

"Noooo!" Lovebeam whined like a brat. "I don't wanna shave my beautiful, luscious, cotton candy pink fur, and I hate ketchup!"

"It's just a game. It's not like you have to do it in real life," Anzu piped in.

"Alright. Let's skip it. Asagi!" Kyoya exclaimed, deciding to divert the game to her. "Would you rather...eat five pounds of raw liver or...walk around in a wedding dress for an entire day?"

"Liver. Full stop. Dresses and I don't mix," Marina answered in the most deadpan way possible.

"Me too! I hate dresses!" Riko exclaimed happily.

"Me three, unless they're long, black, vampire-themed dresses I can wear for Halloween! I don't mind cosplaying in a dress, though," Anzu piped in.

"Liver's gross," Moonbeam piped in.

The kids and fairies had a jolly time playing their games and talking and palavering on about whatever they wanted to talk about. Riko's bedroom became a lot more merry, and a warm kind of invisible glow filled it, making it more cheerful and alive. Again, Riko couldn't believe any of this was happening. She actually has friends over. Real friends. Real people. They're hanging out in her room. Talking, laughing, playing, doing all the things normal kids do whenever they go over other people's houses. It isn't a dream. It's real, completely real. She couldn't fabricate this if she tried. Riko never thought this day would ever come, but it came, and so much more. Soon, the kids and fairies decided to stop playing Would You Rather.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Riko chirped. "We should come up with a name for our Pretty Cure team! I mean, we are superheroes after all, and we can't be a proper team without a cool name!"

"Good point. Plus with all the Pretty Cure shows out there, we'll need to differentiate ourselves from them," Marina said.

"Since a lot of our names are associated with light, how about something like...Light Pretty Cure?" Kyoya suggested.

"Nah, too simple. It needs to be cool! Dazzling! Marvelous!" Riko exclaimed.

"How about Dazzle Pretty Cure?" Anzu piped in.

"Frazzle Pretty Cure?" Sunbeam piped in, which made everyone burst out laughing.

"Nice one," Marina croaked through her laughter.

"Maybe Brilliant Pretty Cure?" Kyoya suggested again.

"Emissaries of Light, Pretty Cure?" Anzu asked.

"Shining Pretty Cure?" Riko piped in.

"Glow Pretty Cure?" Starbeam suggested.

"Lovebeam Pretty Cure?" Lovebeam suggested cutely, with a wink.

"Absolutely not!" Everyone said in perfect unison right to Lovebeam's face. Lovebeam, disappointed with their blunt rejection, crossed her little pink arms and slumped onto Kyoya's lap.

"Why don't we just call it LuminousQ Pretty Cure? Y'know, Q as in Quartet, luminous as in shining, radiant, and glowing...like that," Moonbeam suggested.

Everyone looked at each other, then turned back to the purple fairy. "I like it!" Anzu piped in with a smile.

"The Q adds to the cuteness factor, and the luminous part really makes us come off as dazzling and awesome when we transform! We can banish the darkness with our lights of hope! And since there are four Pretty Cures, the quartet part is perfect, even more so in that if we get a new member, we can call ourselves a quintet and not have to change it! Oh! I already came up with our super cool brand new catch phrase!" Riko exclaimed happily, taking a big liking to their name. She soon stood up and did some overly dramatic superhero poses.

"Whenever there is darkness, we will banish it with the lights shining in our hearts. We are the radiant, the dazzling, the illustrious, the illumination! The luminous quartet! LuminousQ Pretty Cure!" Riko proclaimed in a somewhat hammy superhero voice.

"You sound like a real superhero, Ri-chan," Kyoya said with a laugh as Riko sat down.

"Isn't it a little long?" Starbeam asked.

"But I couldn't come up with anything more inspiring or dazzling. Aren't the Pretty Cures supposed to inspire hope in the citizens?" Riko asked. The unpleasant memory of getting derided and hated by the citizens upon defeating her first Corrupt Sentinel creeped back into her brain, but she tried to keep it back in the box behind her brain, as she really didn't want to think about it. Nobody said anything. "So...who wants to watch an anime? I've got lots of them." She pulled out a big box of DVDs from under her bed. The kids and fairies looked through them to see what she has. She has Moomins, Maple Town, Pokemon, Little Princess Sara, Dog of Flanders, Fancy Lala, Anne of Green Gables and its prequel series, various Digimon seasons, Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette, Heartcatch Pretty Cure, Suite Pretty Cure, Chi's Sweet Home, Samurai Pizza Cats, Natsume Yuujinchou, Ringing Bell, Sea Prince and the Fire Child, Unico, Card Captor Sakura, Ouran High School Host Club, Tamayura, and Angelic Layer.

'_These are all either kids stuff or stuff I never knew existed before...'_ Marina thought as she rummaged through some DVDs.

"Oh! Oh! Can we watch Ouran? I kept missing the seventh episode! The one called Jungle Pool SOS," Anzu suggested, her face turning pink with cheer.

"Sure! Ouran it is!" Riko exclaimed as she pulled out her DVD box set of the series. _'I kinda figured they'd pick it,'_ Riko thought. What she didn't know is that Kyoya is eyeing both her Moomin DVDs and a big white plushie on her bed with a big brown stain on its hippo-like nose.

They went down to the living room (and Kyoya back in his wheelchair), popped in the DVD and watched the episode they decided on. Lots of laughs were heard from the living room. They were oblivious to the fact that Rina slipped into the living room to watch with them. She made herself scarce so she wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. That didn't stop Anzu from glancing at her, but she decided not to say anything. She figured it'd ruin the viewing experience if she made a scene, so she kept quiet. As soon as the episode ended, the phone rang in the dining room.

"I'll get it!" Saki announced as she scurried to the phone and answered it. "Hello? Oh! Hi! What's that? You need to talk to them right away? Okay." Saki then ambled into the living room. "Riko? Hotaru's on the phone. She wants to talk to you."

The kids looked at each other with confused faces, full of wonder as to why Hotaru would call them. Riko took the phone from Saki. "Hi Hotaru-chan!" She said cheerfully.

"_Riko. I'm sorry to bother you like this, but I need you and the others to come to the park on Benkei street right away. There's a Corrupt Sentinel attacking and I'm having some trouble with it,"_ Hotaru told them over the phone.

"What? Seriously?" Riko yelped.

"_Yes. It hasn't gotten into town yet, but I may need backup in case it decides to go wild, just in case. But Zenjin isn't here. A green haired man made it this time,"_ Hotaru stammered.

"Really? Okay. I get it. Thanks," Riko said as she ended the call and gave the phone back to Saki.

* * *

Hotaru, now Cure Starlight, with her naginata in both hands, stood in a defensive stance as a ginormous black guinea pig the size of a small, children's sized school bus tried to yank it out of her hands with its teeth. After a short while of trying to break free, she headbutted it with such force that it wound up forcing her to back away. The guinea pig squealed in an annoyingly high pitched voice as it got headbutted and wound up rolling into some trees, knocking them down deeper into the forest. The only things that it destroyed before this were a set of swings. After this, Cure Starlight put away her naginata, charged at the guinea pig and pummeled it with swift punches and kicks, knocking it deeper into the forest.

"You're quite strong, mademoiselle. I can certainly see why Zenjin is having such a hard time dealing with you. But I really do suggest you just leave this poor creature alone and go back to playing with your little dollies or cooking for your husband," A green haired man dressed in extremely Shakespearian styled raiment mocked as he stood on a tree branch like he was walking on water. Starlight paid absolutely no attention to him as she landed yet another punch on the squealing guinea pig's nose.

This made the green haired man quite perturbed. "Hey! If someone's talking to you, it's your job to listen and obey their commands, you cocky little wench!" The green haired man wailed vehemently.

"I'd rather eat raw liver and swim in a pool of boiling lava than listen to you ramble and spout those sexist views of yours!" Cure Starlight sneered as she pulled her naginata back out and slashed the guinea pig in the chest with it, making it squeal even further. All of a sudden, a blow to her face literally sent her flying. She found herself thrown out of the forest and into the street. Some people, watching the fiasco, slowly crowded around her, wondering if anyone's shooting a movie. Some bystanders have their cell phones out, recording everything. Cure Starlight managed to get back on her feet, but the green haired man floated in front of her and drew out what appears to be a sterling silver, medieval themed rapier, pointing it right to her chin.

"Now be a good little girl and go back to your kitchen. Girls really shouldn't be undertaking a man's arduous work," The green haired man exclaimed. Hotaru got her naginata back out, leaped away from the man, and tried to slash him, but he blocked her naginata with his rapier.

"You dress like you're from the era of Queen Elizabeth, but you talk like you're from the 1950s! Have you been living under a rock?!" Cure Starlight hissed as she actually managed to knock the rapier out of the green haired man's hands. The rapier almost hit a little girl, but she managed to run away before it fell onto the concrete.

"Hmph! You may be tough, but in the end, you're still a delicate little lady who doesn't know her place!" The green haired man exclaimed as he scurried to where his rapier fell and pulled it back out, ready to slash the blue girl to pieces.

"Stop right there, you sexist knave!" The commanding voice of Cure Dawn exclaimed from atop a roof of a house. Cure Starlight looked up, elated to see Cures Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk within her vicinity. The trio of girls leaped in front of the weary, exhausted Cure Starlight, ready for battle.

"You should know better than to claim girls should only stick to playing with dolls and getting married? What time period did you come from? The fifties?" Cure Dusk proclaimed boldly, without a care in the world. The green haired man couldn't resist glaring at them with his scorn filled, cherry red eyes.

"Just who are you anyway?" Cure Twilight asked.

"If you must know, I go by the name Decebal. My charge Zenjin has told me you've been quite an annoyance to him. I figure I might as well take some time out of my busy schedule and teach you to know your place!" Decebal introduced himself like a chivalrous gentleman at first, but with fire in his eyes he grabbed his rapier and charged at the girls. But before he could lay a scratch on them, a glowing dome knocked him and his rapier away, provided by the fairy quartet.

"Starlight and Twilight! You handle the giant guinea pig! Dawn, Dusk, and the rest of us will distract this green haired guy! Hurry!" Lovebeam commanded. Without any hesitation, Cures Starlight and Twilight leaped away from the scene and headed for the black guinea pig, who suddenly decided to run on the street and into the neighborhood.

"Oh, no you don't! Twilight Serenade!" Cure Twilight howled as she shot a beam of light at the guinea pig, knocking it off its feet and sending it rolling on the street like a log that got loose. Not wanting to let it get back up and destroy everything, Cures Starlight and Twilight bombarded it with a flurry of punches and kicks, causing it to squeal. The noise caused Cure Twilight to suddenly stop in the middle of the street and cover her ears in fright.

"Ugh! Too loud!" Cure Twilight cried, squeezing her hands over her ears.

"Starlight Shower!" Cure Starlight raised her hand in the air, then flung it downward as a shower of glowing bluish white stars rained down on the hapless guinea pig. The black guinea pig was rendered unconscious and motionless. Starlight then noticed a teenaged boy about her age coming closer to the fallen guinea pig holding a smartphone in his hands, looking like he wanted to record it. Cure Twilight saw it as well, but was the first to get in front of the boy.

"Hey! Outta my way, brat!" The boy exclaimed.

"You need to take a few steps back. It's too dangerous. If this thing wakes up again, it'll kill you. We'll handle things here," Cure Twilight told him firmly. The boy, despite his face contorting with frustration because of being told off by a purple girl with cat ears, took some steps back and grunted as he walked away, his feet stamping loudly on the pothole ridden concrete.

Starlight and Twilight nodded to each other as they heard Dusk attempt to make Decebal go up in flames.

"Starlight Shower!"

"Twilight Sparkle!"

With their powers combined, the black guinea pig dissipated, leaving a glass ball behind. Cure Starlight ran to it and picked it up. "Thank you, Twilight. That green haired man corrupted my next door neighbor. I'll give this back to her. You help Dawn, Dusk, and the fairies," Cure Starlight said as she scooped the glass ball into her arms and scurried off to find her next door neighbor.

Cures Dawn and Dusk attempted to land a double kick on the green haired, elaborately dressed man, but with a swish of his hand, an ominous wind of purple gust sent them flying to the street. The fairies shot multicolored balls of light at him, managing to send him stumbling to the concrete a bit, but he shot another blast of violet wind at them. Unlike with Dawn and Dusk, the fairies managed to both evade the attack and throw themselves at him, knocking him further up the street.

"Dusk Medley!" Cure Dusk fired flaming musical notes at Decebal, but he drew out his rapier and slashed them all like they were cotton candy.

"Dawn Slam!" Cure Dawn gracefully leaped off the roof of a house, with her glowing nunchucks in both of her hands, did a frontal flip, and smacked Decebal over the head with her glowing yellow nunchucks, sending an explosion of light all over, blinding most of the citizens into covering their eyes, and also scaring others into retreating back to their houses. Thankfully, nothing was destroyed except for some potted plants that tipped over.

The smoke soon dissipated, revealing a huge pot hole deep in the concrete, with a mud and concrete covered Decebal all the way on the bottom. His body went numb with pain as he gasped for breath, unable to move. He couldn't move even as Marina loomed over him like a stern stepmother, with her fire themed bow and arrow ready to fire, the tip of the flaming arrow pointed right at his face.

"Alright, listen up, broccoli head! You better give us some answers as to who you are and what you've been doing, or you're gonna find yourself being treated for some third degree burns. And no, I am NOT afraid to use this," Marina commanded boldly like she was some big shot military officer. Soon, the feeling returned to Decebal's body as he blasted a gust of wind at Marina, sending her flying.

"Dusk!" Twilight yelped as she caught Dusk in the nick of time, breaking her fall. Decebal flew out of the pothole and into the air with a scornful look in his cherry red eyes.

"You may be powerful, but don't think this'll be the last time you have to deal with me! Adieu!" Decebal howled as he disappeared into thin air.

"Ugh! Why do they always manage to get away just when we're about to give them what they deserve?!" Cure Dusk yelped angrily as Cure Twilight set her down, slamming her fist onto the concrete as she vented her frustration.

"Isn't that kinda how all Pretty Cure villains operate after we defeat the monster of the week? And why do they even leave anyway? What do they do?" Cure Dawn asked curiously, brushing some concrete out of her long, blonde ponytail.

"Thanks for coming. I'm sorry I had to interrupt your get-together," Cure Starlight told Twilight.

"It's okay. It's not like you wanted this to happen. You didn't know that green haired guy was gonna show up," Cure Twilight piped in. "Speaking of which, I wanted to invite you too, but Oniichan said you have naginata practice on Thursdays. Sorry."

"It's alright. I should get going now. You'd better get home too," Cure Starlight suggested.

They were met with some cheers from some bystanders, but the Pretty Cures and the fairies didn't want to stay much longer, so they all used the wings on their shoes to fly away from the scene and back to wherever they were before. Cures Twilight, Dawn, Dusk, and the fairies all snuck in through one of Riko's windows, where they were greeted by a curious Kyoya, and turned back to normal.

"A Corrupt Sentinel?" Kyoya asked as they changed back.

"Yep. Mom and Dad didn't ask about us, did they?" Riko asked as she pulled some pieces of gravel out of her hair.

"Nope. They didn't even come upstairs," Kyoya explained. "Saki-san and Rina-chan went to run an errand and last I checked, Arinao-san's in his room working on a novel or something."

"Your dad's a writer?" Marina asked curiously, surprised at being fed this new information. "You never told us that! Is he famous?"

"Is he world famous?" Moonbeam asked.

"No. He wants to be one, though. Last I checked he got a job at a library," Riko replied, a little cowed by their curiosity as she hopped on her bed to preserve her personal space.

"I'm so jealous. I just adore the thought of working in a library. That's what I want to do when I get older!" Starbeam exclaimed happily, her emerald eyes sparkling like malachite under the sun dreamily. "Oh! I want to be a writer, too!"

Once they've calmed down, the kids and fairies went back to hanging out by themselves, happy that the battle is over. But the questions kept lingering in their minds like a pile of dirty dishes just begging to be washed. Who exactly is this green haired man named Decebal? What's his connection to Zenjin? Why are they working together? Do they have the same goal? Or do they have different reasons for working together? Did Decebal have a hand in destroying Rozaniela, too? There was no way to really know. Later, Marina went downstairs to get a class of water. The battle with that giant guinea pig and the Shakespearian dressed Decebal took quite a lot of energy out of her. Just as she gulped a good portion of water down her throat…

"How are you liking it?" Arinao's voice asked out of nowhere, prompting Marina to turn around in confusion.

"What?"

"Hanging out here. Are you having fun?" Arinao asked kindly, with a warm smile.

"Yeah. It feels kinda weird though. I guess it's probably because I've never been to a friend's house before. Obvious reasons, of course," Marina replied pertly before taking another sip of water.

"Riko's never had friends come over before either, just so you know," Arinao told her. "People just refused to give her a chance. It's been a very long time since I've seen my daughter so happy. In fact, I've never seen her this happy before. It's all because you kids became her first friends, and seeing her happy just makes me the happiest father in the world."

'_Sappy much?'_ Marina thought pertly, but she didn't want to say it out of fear of making him angry. "You seem like a good dad. Riko's lucky to have such a great dad. I wish I had a good dad, instead of an idiot who goes around robbing banks, dealing drugs, and using women for his own selfish pleasure."

"I don't blame you," Arinao said kindly. He then pulled out a sticky note and a pen, wrote something on it, and handed it to Marina just as she finished her glass of water. "This is my cell phone number. If you need anything at all or just want to talk, you're more than welcome to call me or stop by."

Marina found herself frozen with confusion. No one's ever offered to give them their number before. Then again, she's always wanted to exchange numbers with someone, but she wanted it to be with kids her own age so she can call her friends and gossip and exchange secrets. The father of one of her new friends isn't quite what she had in mind. But he is nice, and despite what she did to his daughter in the past, he forgave her, and he hasn't used her ancestry to define her or judge her, so...perhaps this could be good. Marina slowly took the sticky note from his hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Thanks," She muttered meekly.

A little after that, Marina, with Sunbeam in her hands, decided to walk back home, as it was almost six, and her mother said she needed to be home by six thirty. After that, Anzu, with Lovebeam in her hands, got on her bike and went home, leaving only Kyoya. Not long after that, Kyoya's parents came to pick him up. They said goodbye at the front porch and Riko went back inside. But when Riko looked out the window and found Kyoya being loaded into the van, they both found themselves unable to stop waving, like they were going to be separated for a long time, which isn't the case. As soon as the van drove off into that corner that shielded it from Riko's sight, she ran up to her room like the house was on fire and suddenly began squeeing and jumping around the room.

"Yeeeek! Best day ever! Meow!" Riko squealed happily as she spun around like a top, jumped all around the room like an overly happy Elvis fan girl, and made all sorts of happy noises. Soon, Riko lost her balance and fell on her bed, causing some stuffed animals to roll onto the floor. Moonbeam managed to catch one white one with a big brown stain on it and put it back on the bed.

"That sure was fun. We should get together like this again sometime, and Hotaru-Neesan can come too if she's free," Moonbeam chirped.

"Yeah. So this is what it's like to have friends over," Riko mused, losing herself in the happy memories she made hours ago. "I wanna do it again! Hey Moonbeam, wanna watch Moomins with me?"

"Moomins?" Moonbeam asked, confused.

"Yep! It's one of my favorite anime!"

"Sure! I'd love to!"

Riko wished this day could go on forever. Her cup of happiness was full before, but now it was overflowing like a broken drainage pipe. What Riko and Moonbeam didn't know was that Rina stood outside her room, looking rather dismal as she listened to her older sister's merry, joyous, jubilant laughter and her rejoicing over her first ever friend get-together going well. She looked down and leaned against the door like she was so tired she didn't want to do anything anymore.

"Why does she have friends and I don't?" Rina mused to herself sadly. It seems everything is reversed now.

Footnotes:

1. The Moomins is a series of Finnish-Swedish books by Tove Jansson. Comet In Moominland is technically considered the first book, but there was one that preceded it called Moomin And The Great Flood, which to this day hasn't been released anywhere outside of Finland.


	9. Tragedy and Countdowns!

Chapter 9: Tragedy and...Countdowns? Zenjin's Adoptive Mom is a Hippie?

Not much happened within Zenjin's huge black fortress since the gigantic guinea pig incident, but everything was tranquil for them...if by tranquil you mean spending time corrupting people into Corrupt Sentinels (or Zenjin's preferred name for them, Human Trash) far away from the Pretty Cure and seeing what happens if they really do wreak havoc. But instead of letting them wreak havoc on Earth, like Zenjin wanted, Decebal took some souls to the big fortress, kept them in a big, cotton candy pink force field that looked more like a transparent gumball a kid would get in one of those little coin machines in a grocery store than a force field, and let them howl and roar and writhe like lab rats. In one of the big empty black rooms in the fortress, Decebal watched as a giant black slug writhed around in a pink forcefield on top of a tall, marble, Ionic styled pedestal towering at almost the same height as him, with Zenjin standing next to him, his arms crossed and left foot tapping the hard floor.

"I still don't see why we can't just let it blow stuff up on Earth. It's more fun that way!" Zenjin complained as he watched the giant black slug writhe in the forcefield.

"Now now, Zenjin. You know we've found some strange findings with these creatures, so consider this an experimental period where we discover what they're capable of, so be patient, Zenny boy," Decebal said.

"Pheh! I hate being patient! Nothing ever happens!" Zenjin mused.

"Speaking of nothing happening, I wonder what's taking Beileag so long. It's been two weeks already," Decebal mused. He then noticed that the slug stopped writhing in the force field. "Oh. Time's up," Decebal said as he drew out his rapier and sliced the slug in half. The black sluck dissipated in a flurry of little black lights which also dissipated into the air.

"Yeah. What IS taking her so long anyway? She's supposed to be here by now. I hope nothing's happened to her," Zenjin said as he uncrossed his arms and looked around the empty room. Normally, when people say they hope nothing bad has happened to someone, they usually say it in either a thoughtful, concerned, or worried way. Zenjin's tone was insouciant and uncaring.

"Woooow! This is a rockin' bachelor pad! It looks like a floating castle in a fairy tale!" A peppy, cheerful sounding woman voice suddenly pierced the silence of the room, causing Zenjin and Decebal to look toward the door behind them.

Spinning into the room like a ballerina is a young woman, possibly in her mid twenties, with long, scraggly, indigo hair tied in two long, scraggly pigtails with pinky pearl like accessories. Her eyes are a lilac lavendar color, like the flowers that grow in Hokkaido, covered with the barriers that are a huge pair of red glasses shaped like hearts with a white rim framing the red pieces of glass. She is wearing a sky blue, sunshine yellow, and cotton candy pink tank top underneath a brown, unbuttoned vest with some streamer-like straps stringing on them like alfredo noodles, a pair of ocean blue pants with brightly colored pink and yellow flowers embroidered on the hems in varying sizes, tall, pale brown high heels, a green and yellow bandana wrapped around her right leg, a white, pink, and black bandana wrapped around her left arm just below her shoulder, and a big, puffy beige cycling cap with purple and green diamonds all over the bottom part. She also has a big purple flower pinned on her left breast, just below her tank top strap. Basically, she looked like a hippie who came straight from the 1960s.

"Did you really make this all by yourself, Zen-chan?! This is sooooo cool!" The indigo haired girl squealed happily as she spun around into the dark room, oblivious to Zenjin and Decebal looking at her like someone came and crashed a party they were holding.

"What took you so long, Beileag?" Decebal asked sternly as he approached the starry eyed hippie girl, or Beileag.

The indigo haired, hippie-like girl suddenly turned around on one of her heels and donned a pouty, squinty eyed angry face like a little kid who didn't get dessert. "I told you not to call me Beileag! It's either B-chan or Billie!"

"You're late!" Zenjin sneered in a perturbed tone of voice, more concerned about her being tardy than her actual presence.

Beileag fell to her knees and sighed like she was exhausted after running a marathon. "Sorrr-ry! Goodness, you won't believe what the heck happened to me! The queen and her munchkin minions ordered me to help out with cleaning up the mess you made, Zen-chan! I tried to get away a bunch of times, but they just kept making me do chores all over the place! I've lost at least five pounds just from carrying around a bunch of two by fours and pushing carts full of either broken houses or corpses!"

"Yay. I love the smell of death and the sight of rotting corpses," Zenjin mused to himself with a malicious gleam in his bloody red eyes, not that Decebal or Beileag noticed.

The indigo haired, brightly dressed hippie then stood back on her feet. "And do you know how long it took me to figure out the spell to go to your alternate dimension? A whole week! Yep! That's right! A whole entire week! It took me hours and hours just to get the first part of that blasted spell right!" Beileag complained, wagging her finger at Decebal like she was scolding an unruly child.

Decebal gently pushed her hand away from his face. "Well, better late than never, right? We're glad you're here, Billie."

Beileag's lavender eyes shined like stars again, awed at the sight of the dismal looking fortress. "But man, I mean to tell you, did you really make all of this yourself, Zen-chan? Including this bizarro alternate dimension? For someone who just got the Energia in his bloodstream, you sure did a great job with making all of this!" Beileag palavered cheerfully.

"Hey. Are you gonna talk all day or listen, because we've been having some trouble," Zenjin told her with his arms crossed.

"Oh! That's right. Sorry about that, Zen-chan. Hehehehe," Beileag sweatdropped and rubbed the hair not covered by her puffy hat with one of her hands ruefully with a just as embarrassed laugh.

Zenjin and Decebal told her about everything that happened, from Zenjin's first encounter with the Pretty Cure to the guinea pig incident a few weeks ago.

"Human Trash? Couldn't you have come up with some with a little more pizazz? Or something more mystical and intimidating? Like the obscure, or the sentinels, or the vampire beasts-" Beileag mused.

"They're MY creations, and I can call them whatever I want and you don't, so don't question my way of doing things, you hippie!" Zenjin screamed vehemently, his eyes bloodshot and teeth grinding in response to Beileag's train of thought. "You care way more about the way my creations are named than the fact that these trashy little dead prostitutes are ruining my fun?!"

"Of course I do, Zen-chan!" Beileag exclaimed, standing up from Zenjin's bed on her own two feet to take a few steps away from Zenjin's high pitched yelling. "But there's no need to yell at me!" She snapped. She then cleared her throat. "So these superhero girls are called Pretty Cure, right?"

"Yes, and they've been getting in our way quite a lot. The only reason we haven't done anything in the past two weeks is because we've been conducting some experiments, far from their vicinity," Decebal told her with a shrug.

"You mean those ones you were just telling me about, right? I can see why you'd want to do them in private. They sound pretty nosy, kinda like those meddling kids in that show about the four kids and the van and the dog! What was it called again?" Beileag mused, losing herself to a new train of thought.

Decebal shot a demeaning glance at her. "Focus, Beileag!" He yelled vehemently, yanking her out of her reverie.

"Don't call me that!" Beileag shot back.

"We need to come up with a new plan of action if we're going to run into those pesky little doll faced brats again. They may be cute little dolls, but they may get stronger later on, so we shouldn't underestimate them," Decebal explained, calmer this time, then turned to Zenjin, who was happily chomping on some strawberry pocky. "You have the Energia's omnipotent power, don't you, Zenny? Can't you just kill them or erase them from existence?"

"I could, since I have all the power in the world to do so. But I don't feel like it. They'll make some pretty good toys. Plus, all I want to do is make people suffer. Destroying the world is so cliche," Zenjin replied as he chewed on a huge chunk of his strawberry pocky.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. It's rude," Beileag piped in.

"Who cares? You're not my mom!" Zenjin snapped back and threw the empty pocky box at her. Swiftly, she managed to catch it and allow a purple flame to consume it, erasing it from existence.

"Hmm...come to think of it," Decebal said as he looked up at the ceiling with his wistful, cherry red eyes, with his chin on his beard, pondering. "They don't know about our discovery, do they?"

* * *

Rina sat in her extremely colorful room, playing with some new Barbie dolls she got for her birthday, dressing it up in a brand new sparkly pink outfit that came with it. She's dressed in a filmy snow white shirt with a big red heart on it, navy blue jeans with pink and red glittering hearts sewn on various parts of them, dark yellow socks, and sparkly silver shoes. She also has a little yellow ribbon on top of her head of straight, silky, raven black hair. She picked up a little purple hair brush and carefully brushed Barbie's perfect, beautiful, curling golden hair, making sure all the knots are loose and the split ends are gone. But soon, the energy to brush her hair further just sapped right out of her, causing the seven year old to sigh.

"I'm sorry, Barbie. I know it's my job to make you pretty and stylish, but it's been four weeks and I still have no friends at my new school! Everyone runs away from me like I'm gonna give them all germs or something, and I take a bath every day!" Rina told her stylish looking Barbie doll, who is made of plastic. The doll remained silent and still as a mannequin. "Worse than that, Riko's the one who has friends! She isn't supposed to have friends! She's weird and makes strange noises and makes everybody stare at us with her pretend superhero dreams and talking about stuff nobody likes and crying at anything and everything."

Again, Barbie said nothing.

"Rina! Breakfast is ready! You better eat it before it gets cold!" Saki called out.

"I'll be down in a second, Mom!" Rina called back, then put Barbie on her bed before putting a small blanket on her. "Sorry, Barbie. Time for your seven hour nap. I have to go to school again," Rina said as she grabbed her purple Dora The Explorer book bag and hopped out of her room. She skipped into the dining room to find Hikage scarfing down some French toast and Arinao reading the paper as usual. She found Riko sitting in the den fully dressed and ready, playing her Nintendo DS while Saki sat in front of the TV, watching the news quite intently.

"_And now, just when you think the Sogabe Kirito murder case is tragic enough, the accidental perpetrator of the event, Uomisaki Toyoki, has committed suicide. He was found hanging on a noose in central park just last night. He was rushed to Hikaribashi Hope Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival,"_ The red headed newscaster said into the microphone rather nonchalantly.

"What?! The guy offed himself?!" Hikage yelped, literally doing a spit take with his water. The water he spat out got onto part of Arinao's newspaper.

"Ew! You're so gross, Oniichan!" Rina complained as she finished a bite of her yogurt, not caring one bit about the news, and probably not understanding a word of it either. "Dad? What does offed himself mean?"

"You're better off not knowing," Arinao replied as he crumpled up the dripping newspaper and took a sip of some fresh coffee from his dog themed coffee mug.

Saki didn't notice, as she's too busy watching, but Riko's Nintendo DS console fell out of her hands and onto her pants covered knees, the Pokemon battle still going on. Yumiko trotted over and sniffed her console. After that, the little dog scuttled back into the dining room. Her emerald eyes are huge and wide with horror. Her face went pale, and the energy to continue playing her game was just yanked right out of her, right as someone on the news was expressing his opinion about the officer's suicide. _"Why you all treatin' it like it's some big tragedy? I'm glad he's dead! He can go to Hades for all I care! Kirito would be here if that brain dead idiot hadn't shot him!"_

She has a lot of energy stored in her little body. But upon hearing the awful news, Riko didn't feel like using any of it. How can they expect her to do so? She had to use it if she needed to get through the day, so there's no point in complaining. She mustered at least enough to pick up her game and turn it off. "Mom. Let's go," She muttered somberly, her emerald eyes losing their morning spark.

Without waiting for Saki's reply, Riko ran to her room, put her coat on, and walked right out the door. Saki scurried after her as they ran to the car. Saki drove Riko to school and dropped her off. But Riko just stood outside the blacktop, her ears bombarded by the piercing screams of the kids as they chased each other around and hung out and talked about whatever they wanted to. But Riko didn't care. She just let the noise flow into her ears as she stood like a drunk person wanting to sit somewhere and calm down after a rough day. Too many thoughts were going through her mind. The memory of the police officer getting harassed by those kids lingered in her mind. He was one of the people who was turned into a Corrupt Sentinel, the day Marina was revealed to be a Pretty Cure, Cure Dusk. They turned him back to normal. But he...killed himself? Usually in anime, people who get turned back to normal get new leases on life and stop being sad. He shouldn't have done it.

"Hey Riko! Check this out! Some people recorded our fight with the guinea pig and it's all over YouTube! Look!" Anzu exclaimed excitedly, running up to her and showing her the video footage, with Kyoya and Marina running behind her. None of them bothered to notice the dead look on Riko's face, as they're too caught up in their own excitement.

"Really? Lemme see," Marina asked as she, Kyoya, and Riko peered into Anzu's cell phone, watching the shaky footage of the Pretty Cures fighting the giant black guinea pig. Then, as the guinea pig was knocked unconscious, the shaky footage zoomed in on it, showing a glowing green set of numbers.

"Huh?"

"What's up, Kyoya-kun?" Anzu asked.

"Let me see that for a second," Kyoya said as he took the cell phone from Anzu's hands and examined the video further. He then showed it to the girls again. "Do you see what I see?"

The girls looked closer. Then they saw it. Green, glowing numbers next to the guinea pig's arm. 00:15:41. 00:15:40. 00:15:39. "Wow! You're right! What is that?" Marina asked, her golden eyes widening with the surprise that came with the revelation delivered on a silver platter.

"Is that a timer?" Anzu asked as Kyoya paused the video on the phone, keeping the 00:15:39 frozen in time so they could see it better.

"No. The numbers are going down backwards, so I think it might be a countdown," Kyoya explained.

"But what's it counting down to? Is it some kind of time limit?" Marina asked.

"Probably. This freeze frame says there's fifteen minutes and thirty nine seconds left. Left to what? Hey Riko. What do you think this means?" Anzu explained, showing the phone to a somber, silent, insouciant Riko, who continued to look down at the grass beneath her sneakers...or not at anything at all. It's here that Anzu finally noticed. "Hey. Riko? What's wrong?"

"He's dead," She whispered in a low voice as Kyoya and Marina turned around to finally notice that Riko didn't partake in their conversation.

"What's that?" Marina asked, becoming a little cowed by Riko's utterly dejected expression pained on her normally peppy little canvas of a face.

"He's dead!" Riko blurted out, louder this time.

"Who's dead?"

"That police officer guy! Uomisaki-san! I saw it on the news this morning! He hung himself!" Riko shouted again hysterically.

A grim silence consumed the quartet of kids. Kyoya gave Anzu's phone back, but she barely even noticed. The giggles and happy screams of the kids on the blacktop now seemed far away. All of their eyes widened to the point of looking like saucers save for Riko, who continued to stare down at the insensitively green grass beneath her sneakers. After what seemed to be an eternity, Marina snapped herself out of her dejection by growling a bit and stamping her feet, smushing some grass under her boots.

"Why?! We saved him! This is so stupid! Why'd he go and off himself?! This isn't fair!" Marina shouted as she continued to stamp on the grass. She also wound up kicking a small stone, which hit the wheel of a red van and bounced right off of it, back onto the sidewalk.

"Who's Uomisaki?" Kyoya asked, cocking his head slightly.

Anzu turned to face him, her lime green eyes downcast. "You don't know, do you? He's that police officer who killed a kid by accident. Zenjin turned him into a Corrupt Sentinel once and we saved him. It was when Marina became a Pretty Cure for the first time."

"Ohhh. I see," Kyoya replied in a softer voice. Anzu could see his emerald eyes softening a bit, probably out of sympathy.

The bell rang and pulled them out of their sadness. "Come on. We don't want to be late," Anzu told them gently. She expected them to shout at her, but instead, they silently went to homeroom, greeted by a rather cheery atmosphere. Kids in their designated cliques continued to palaver and laugh about whatever they wanted, and Mrs. Omori just sat at her desk grading papers. Riko pulled out a paper and a turquoise mechanical pencil and drew on it, hoping to sketch out little drawings of the fairy sisters. Anzu just sat at her desk and stared off into space. Kyoya pulled out a copy of _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse_ and read it. Soon, Riko found herself unable to draw anymore. The drawings she did etch out looked very off model. Sunbeam's left ear is too small, her right eye is too big, the sun on her tail is squiggly looking, and one of Moonbeam's ears is far too big, shaped like a big oval. Riko crumpled up her paper and threw it into the trash can, hoping it'd make a satisfying whack sound. It didn't, much to Riko's chagrin. Marina stormed out of the classroom, grabbing a hall pass before she slammed the door.

What the three kids don't know is that one of their classmates, Fukiko, is very slowly and hesitantly approaching the occupied Kyoya. Her chocolate brown hair is still in its usual style, down to her upper back with the little ponytail held up by a little green scrunchie, wearing a pair of orange jean pants, a long sleeved dark blue jean jacket over a white shirt with the words _Follow Your Heart_ written on it in purple and turquoise, with glitter on them, and a pair of white and purple sneakers with some parts of them having glitter on them also. Once she got close to Kyoya, who continued to read his book, completely oblivious to her presence, she took a step back a little bit and folded her hands together to the point where her knuckles looked like they were going to turn snow white. Her hazel eyes trembled a little bit fearfully, but she shook her head and took a breath before finally speaking.

"Umm...Kyoya-kun?" Fukiko asked shyly. Kyoya didn't respond. He just kept on reading his book. But she kept going.

'_I have to do this,'_ She told herself in her mind, motivating herself to speak again. "Listen, um…" Her voice cracked with hesitation, but she didn't want to concede defeat. "I...I really want to say I'm sorry...for what I've done to you…"

He didn't respond again.

"Hey, Fu-chan! You've gotta check out Toshiko-chan's new earrings!" Another girl exclaimed cheerfully as she hopped in front of the bewildered girl, took her by the hand, and literally dragged her away from Kyoya. Riko looked up upon hearing Fukiko talk to him, but she didn't dare say anything. But she did manage to overhear the conversation. By accident, of course, since her hearing is hypersensitive despite the noise the other kids are making. Some questions lingered in Riko's mind like a boat lost at sea. Why is Fukiko apologizing? Did she do something bad to him? If she did, it definitely explains why Kyoya doesn't like her and gets mad whenever she's mentioned. Or maybe she's apologizing because of that weird and inappropriate sounding question she asked Riko, the one about her asking whether she was freaked out by his being in a wheelchair? Riko wished she could ask Fukiko about it, but she looks like one of the popular girls, the ones who wouldn't really bother with talking to someone like her.

Getting through the school day felt like an eternity. Despite the terrible news of officer Uomisaki's untimely death by hanging, the quartet of saddened kids tried their hardest to get through the day and make sure to pay attention during class, because if they didn't, the consequences would be perilous. Unfortunately for Riko, Mr. Ikari is going over new math problems on the board, and despite her scribbling down some notes as best she could, she couldn't understand the new equations they're learning. Her eyes blurred, and she discovered some wet, dark marks on her worksheet. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeves, but the liquid continued to ooze out of her eyes. She could hear herself sniveling.

Strangely enough, she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder, causing her to flinch and move away a little. "Hey. You okay?" Riko opened her eyes to find Fukiko looking at her with concern and pity in her voice. Riko shook her head and continued to scribble down some notes. Once math, lunch, recess, and science were out of the way, at health class, Riko had to go to the bathroom. She unknowingly brought her purse with her. After she finished, she went out the bathroom door only to find herself bumping into another body.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"Watch where you're going! Loser!" An irritated female voice snapped. Once Riko collected herself, she noticed that the girl she bumped into is one of Yoshie's posse. A girl with frumpy but curly pale brown hair dangling down to her shoulders and dark blue eyes like a starry sky. She has black heart shaped earrings on both of her ears with glittering edges, wearing a white and pink short sleeved shirt with a black heart and a sparkling silver crown picture on the chest and abdomen, a dark blue jean skirt, black leggings, and slip on silver shoes. She has a small, sunny yellow purse in her hand. Riko looked down to find that her own purse is on the floor, with one of her Pokemon mangas exposed. The clip on the purse was unfastened when Riko fell, so the book came spiraling out. Riko grabbed her book and put it back in her bag once she recognized the girl as Shiina Toshiko.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Honest," Riko told her apologetically again, but Toshiko continued to give her a scornful, squinty eyed look. It didn't look like she believed her.

"Whatever. You actually like Pokemon?" Toshiko sneered irritably. When she asked the last question, Riko froze. She didn't want to say anything. But her silence gave the fashionably dressed girl the answer she needed, and not in a good way.

"My brother has a lot of Pokemon stuff. But he's nine years old. The right age. Aren't you a little old to be watching cartoons?" Toshiko told her with some malice dripping in her voice.

Riko didn't like the tone in her voice, so she took a defensive stance. "No. You'd be surprised at the amount of grown ups who like cartoons!"

"They must have no life, and with the way you're going, you'll probably be just like them."

"You don't know that."

"And another thing. You'd be way more popular if you actually wore some pretty dresses and skirts and acted normal like everybody else. Nobody likes a stupid woman child who likes cartoons. Now out of my way," Toshiko retorted rather venomously before bumping Riko as she walked into the bathroom. Riko, not wanting to put up with this girl anymore, left the bathroom.

She got back to health class, but she felt sadder than ever. First one of the people she saves from being a Corrupt Sentinel hangs himself because he can't handle all the hate and backlash anymore, and now one of Yoshie's prissy, snotty underlings derides her love of anime and her choice of raiment. Despite having endured it lots of times before, Riko never did get used to it. New thoughts began to hatch in her mind. Now that Toshiko knows, is she going to tell Yoshie about it so they can use it against her and harass her and pick on her every day for the rest of her life and never ever stop? Riko shook her head and continued to listen to the teacher. She didn't want to even think about that extremely one hundred percent likely possibility! Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the final bell's ringing echoed all throughout the school, signaling that the kids can finally go home! Riko was about to find Saki's car until the vociferous sound of yelling froze her in her tracks.

"WHAT?! What do you mean you won't take me shopping?!" Someone barked into their cell phone vehemently. Riko, frozen with fear, didn't dare turn around, but she recognized the voice. It sounded like Toshiko, the prissy girl who confronted her in the bathroom before.

"Mom! I told you it wasn't me! Stupid Yuuta broke it! Oh, fine! Blame me for everything he does! You always take his side anyway!" Toshiko screamed to the point where her voice went up an octave. She angrily pressed the END button on her cell phone, hastily stuffed it in her yellow purse, stamped one of her feet and screeched to the air.

"What's wrong, Toshi-chan?" Another one of Yoshie's clique girls-Riko remembered her name is Shizuka-asked curiously.

"My mom won't take me shopping because my baby brother's sick and my stupid little brother Yuuta told her I was the one who broke one of her glass unicorns! I didn't do it, but does she believe me? Noooo! Now I'm grounded for a week because I didn't clean up my room and have to go straight home or else no I-pod either!" Toshiko explained rather irritably.

"I feel you. My big brother is always scheming stuff and picking on me, but he never goes too far with it, and Mom and Dad usually know when he's lying or trying to pull some kind of trick," Shizuka explained.

"Lucky. I have to go. I'll catch you later, okay?"

"Sure. Bye!"

With that, Riko ran to Saki's car, and she found herself home at last.

* * *

It took Toshiko about five minutes to get home, but as soon as she opened the door, loud noise poured right out of it like a tsunami, namely the sound of two little boys, aged nine and seven, running all over the place, carrying little plastic toy swords, swatting each other and shouting over dramatic battle cries. A baby's screechy wailing could be heard in another room, and a woman with frizzy pale brown hair that looked like it'd been pulled on a lot popped out of nowhere, bags under her eyes, looking like they're dragging them down. She's dressed in a long sleeved white shirt, a pair of faded pale blue jeans, and a pair of beige slippers. "Toshiko! What took you so long?!" She yelled vehemently, causing the already bewildered girl to freeze with fear. "Ugh! Don't bother. I better give him his medicine. Tell the boys to quit horsing around! It's bad enough Yuuta broke one of my glass unicorns!"

'_Oh, NOW you believe me! Go suck it,'_ Toshiko thought sarcastically as she ran to her battling brothers, yanked the plastic swords out of their hands, and threw them in the closet.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?!" The younger one whined petulantly.

"I was just about to kick his butt!" The older one piped in.

"Enough playing! Go and do your homework!" Toshiko commanded.

"Why should we?" The younger one asked.

"Because you have to! Now march!" Toshiko snapped.

"You tell us to do our homework yet you never do yours and always complain about it," The older one retorted.

"Just go and do it!" Toshiko snapped. The two boys finally conceded defeat and went back to their rooms. The baby's crying continued to echo in the nursery as Toshiko's mother tried to give him some medicine.

"Where's Dad at?" Toshiko asked.

"How should I know where that stupid man child is? He's probably out frolicking with his friends and having a good time while I have to slave away here! Go and wash the dishes, will you?!" Toshiko's mother snapped angrily, causing the baby to cry.

Toshiko went into the kitchen and saw at least two tall piles of dirty dishes in the sink. The piles were at least as tall as a single computer monitor. She wanted to complain, but she knew that if she did, her mother would yell, so she reluctantly decided to work on them. She turned on the faucet, sprayed some detergent in the sink once it was full of water, scrubbed whatever leftovers she could off the plates, and put them all in the empty dishwasher one by one. It took her half an hour to rinse and scrub everything, but after that, the sink became practically empty. The baby's crying finally ceased.

"Done and done. Maybe now I can finally work on some of my own homework," Toshiko muttered to herself irritably as she washed her soapy hands with the dish towel. Literally as soon as she left the kitchen, the front door flung open.

"I'm back!" A man's voice called out.

"Hey Dad," Toshiko said. But it got drowned out by her mother stomping into the living room and staring him down like she was about to scold a bratty little kid.

"Where in the world have you been? Oh, let me guess! You were out frolicking with your friends? Playing pachinko? Having a good time, not caring one bit about your sick baby? I'm sick of you always being away when I need your help the most!" Toshiko's mother yelled.

'_Ugh! I don't want to hear this!'_ Toshiko groaned in her head as she stomped to her really messy room and shut the door. She wanted to listen to her I-pod to drown it out, but her mother grounded her and is forbidding her from using it. Her room looked like a tornado had gone through it. Flashy, sparkly, perfectly fashionable clothes strung about everywhere. Shirts, skirts, jewelry, jeans, even tank tops scattered all over the place. Lots of fashion magazines lay scattered on her floor, too, either closed or half-open. _'Mom's probably gonna tell me to clean my room. I better do it. Leaving it like this is just gonna make her yell some more. Maybe it'll get me out of my grounding,'_ Toshiko thought irritably as she picked up some shirts, folded them all neatly, and proceeded to put them all in her drawers. She also put other articles of clothing on clothing hangers and put them in her closet, like her jeans and various shirts and skirts. It took her about fifteen minutes to put all of her clothes away, and another five picking up all the magazines and putting them underneath her bed. With that, her room now looked like it hadn't been touched. She finally put her bag on her bed, pulled out her computer chair, and began surfing the internet.

She only managed to get on there for about a second until her mother stomped into the room. "Toshiko! I need to talk to you! Turn off the computer!" She exclaimed.

"I have homework to do," Toshiko sneered back.

But before she could open Microsoft Word and start on whatever homework she had, the screen suddenly went black like a blackout. "What?! Mom!" Toshiko yelled as she stood up in alarm.

"When I say turn off the computer, I mean turn off the computer, not go online and expose yourself to internet pedophiles!" Toshiko's mother yelled.

"But I was gonna do my homework-" Toshiko tried to convince her she wasn't going to surf on any skeevy websites, but it didn't look like her frantic mother had any intention of listening or believing her, not that she expected her to.

"Toshiko! Care to explain to me why you didn't your laundry like I asked you to?" Toshiko's mother insinuated.

"You never told me I had to do laundry! You keep on yelling about my room and the dishes, and I did them just now!" Toshiko snapped back.

"You're so inconsiderate! You never help me out around the house! I'm always the one who has to do everything around here! You need to understand that being selfish and locking yourself in your room and acting like a brat isn't going to do anything for you!"

Something snapped inside Toshiko. A lid she put on her inner volcano finally came loose, and the lava found itself pouring right out. She was helpless to stop it. But then again, she didn't want to contain it. She slammed her hand on the keyboard with a strong thud. "Hey! I just told you I cleaned my room and did the dishes! Even after all that the first thing you do is yell at me?! This is why I hate helping out around the house! You never say thanks or I appreciate it or this means so much to me! All you ever do is yell, scream, complain, and act like everything has to be about you!"

"Don't take that attitude with me-"

"No! I'm talking! You listen for once! I've been considerate ever since Dad got laid off! I've studied my butt off, put up with Yuuta and Kouta, and helped out whenever you asked me! And after all of this, you have the nerve to call ME inconsiderate?! Do you expect me to be perfect or something?! If this is how you're going to keep treating me when I even TRY to do nice things for you, then I'm DONE being considerate! If anything, you're the one who's inconsiderate!"

"Toshiko-"

With that hard boiling rhetoric, Toshiko dashed out the door, passing right by the oldest brother, Yuuta. She almost bumped into him, but he managed to get out of the way just in the nick of time. "She being a brat again?"

With an exhausted grunt, Toshiko's mother plopped onto her daughter's bed and ran her hands through her stringy hair. But she did see that her room is quite clean. Not one article of clothing in sight. Toshiko said she cleaned her room. She's right. A touch of rue began to creep into her heart. She wished she hadn't been so hysterical.

Toshiko managed to run out the front door and out into the road. What she didn't know that she passed a rather skinny young man with long, sterling silver hair, black attire, crimson red boots, and a crimson red cape. He backed away as soon as she passed right by him. About a few minutes afterward, Toshiko's frazzled but no longer angry mother came out the front door.

"Toshiko! Where are you!?" She cried out. But she didn't shout it in an angry way this time. She used a worried and concerned tone of voice. Her puffy eyes no longer donned the exhausted look they had. But she turned around to find the silver haired teenager staring at her with eyes so wide they looked like they were going to pop out of his head. The only thing in them was naked fear.

"Can I help you?" Toshiko's mother asked. The silver haired teenager took a few steps back and suddenly bolted in the direction Toshiko ran into.

* * *

Toshiko didn't get to go very far as she's still wearing her slip on shoes, and they weren't made for running. She only managed to get down two streets. She saw a rusty little silver bench in front of a bus stop and plopped herself onto it, her legs burning and feeling like bags with huge amounts of rocks thrown into them. She saw someone contentedly walking their dog on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. She saw some birds flying over her head and twittering away happily, like they didn't have a care in the world. _'I wish I could be a bird. I could fly wherever I wanted, and I wouldn't have to suck up to stupid people like Mom and feel unappreciated for everything I do,'_ Toshiko looked down at her feet, still covered with the slip on shoes. She removed one of them and found a small scab on her ankle, probably from the back of her shoe rubbing against it a lot.

"Ow…" Toshiko grimaced as she touched the peeled skin on her ankle. Her eyesight began to blur, and she felt something wet trickle down her cheeks. She rubbed her face with her arm and found that her arm is wet and gleaming under the afternoon sun. Not from the peeling skin on her ankle, but the lava in her heart finally cooling off and morphing into sadness. Her ears did catch the sound of harmonica music echoing in the air, but she really isn't in the mood for listening to music.

"Why does Mom have to be such an idiot? Can't she at least be happy I actually washed the dishes and cleaned my room? She's never happy when I help her out around the house!" Toshiko mused to herself tearfully, throwing her glittering shoe on the concrete in front of her. But when it stopped, she looked up and saw that it stopped in front of the silver haired teenager she passed right by.

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you there!" Toshiko stammered as she stood up, stumbled to her fallen shoe, and picked it back up. But she froze when she saw the stone faced, crimson eyed stare he was giving her. He didn't look angry, but she could tell he didn't look very happy about the shoe almost flying in his face.

"I heard your argument with your mother earlier," The silver haired boy told her. The harmonica music stopped at this point, not that Toshiko or the silver haired boy cared.

"You did? Yeah. I'm not having the best of days. I really just want to get away from her for a while," Toshiko replied sheepishly as she brushed the tears out of her face with her arm, embarrassed that someone heard her argument and is seeing her cry right now.

"You know...you could do away with her if you want," He whispered coldly.

"Huh?"

"You hate her, don't you?" Toshiko felt a chill spring forth all throughout her body. The silver haired boy's eyes suddenly donned a ferocious gleam, and the smile he flashed made him look like a serial killer who wanted to go on a killing spree. She wanted to run, but her legs were still heavy from too much running earlier.

"You're scaring me. What do you mean by do away with her?" Toshiko stammered.

"You're angry at her. You want to give her what she deserves, make her suffer for always making you suffer. I know exactly how you feel. I've been through it myself. But if you want, I'd be more than happy to help you give her the punishment she deserves," Zenjin replied coldly, with a touch of enjoyment peppering his unusually high voice, like he was absolutely dying to do whatever it is he wants to do.

"How?"

* * *

"Aww! Why'd you stop playing?!" Lovebeam whined as she and Anzu sat in the park where the giant guinea pig was when they fought it. Anzu sat on a bench, and she found herself unable to continue playing her harmonica. She still held onto it, but she looked down at it with her lime green eyes downcast, like she's too tired to continue doing anything.

"Sorry, Lovebeam. I just...I just don't feel motivated today. Normally I enjoy it, but now I'm just too tired," Anzu explained in a low, exhausted sounding voice just after sighing.

"Why? Did something bad happen?" Lovebeam asked with concern peppering her voice, the whiny tone vanishing.

"My stupid mom is giving Dad a hard time. Hate mail and threatening phone calls," Anzu replied with the same cadence as before.

"Why?"

"She hates my dad. She's fighting for custody of me, but I want no part of it."

Lovebeam was about to ask why until a chill consumed her body, causing her long ears to suddenly rise straight into the air. "Uh!"

"What's wrong?" Anzu asked.

"I feel Zenjin's presence!" Lovebeam chirped.

"I better call the others and let them know," Anzu said as she pulled out a grey and white Droid phone. She found the people she wanted to call and said the same thing to all three of them. "Zenjin's up to no good again. I'm at the park where we fought the giant guinea pig. You better get here quick!"

Anzu herself decided to transform into Cure Dawn right then and there. Right after she transformed, a high pitched, bloodcurdling scream resounded in the air. Cure Dawn and Lovebeam both wasted no time in leaping into the scene, where they found Zenjin corrupting someone's soul, with the green haired man from before, Decebal, by his side. Strapped onto a big wall with her Soul Portal exposed for all to see and invade is Toshiko, one of Yoshie's lackeys.

"Go crazy, Human Trash!" Zenjin yelled as the black orb glowed, grew bigger in size, and morphed into a pitch black lizard. It's not as big as the other monsters they've fought before, but it still looked powerful.

"A lizard? D'awww! Why can't it be something cooler, like a grizzly bear or something?!" Zenjin growled angrily, stamping his feet on the concrete while Decebal just shrugged.

"Now now, Zenny boy. If you set your expectations too high, you'll always come out disappointed in the end," Decebal piped in.

"Don't think you're so smart, you knaves!" The bold voice of Cure Starlight resounded in the air as she, along with Cures Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk, leaped into the scene. Suddenly, the black lizard began charging at them, its skinny little legs making it look like its waddling.

Cure Twilight was the first to act. She hopped in front of the giant lizard, brought her cat claws out, and slashed the lizard's face without any mercy. The lizard howled as it backed a few steps away, allowing Cure Dawn to leap into the air and land a strong punch on the top of its head with one of her yellow flaming fists. Cure Starlight unleashed a Starlight Shower on the lizard, which writhed in pain as the stars fell on it like meteors falling from the sky.

"_My mom never appreciates what I do! She's always yelling and complaining!"_ The lizard cried despondently.

"Huh? Isn't that Shiina-san?" Cure Twilight asked as she noticed Toshiko, unconscious and hanging on the wall.

"This lizard is her soul?" Cure Dusk asked. "Hmph! Let's just leave her alone. She's not worth it."

"Uh...Asagi? You DO know we're supposed to be superheroes, right? It's our job to save and protect everybody!" Cure Twilight exclaimed, slightly flummoxed by Cure Dusk's sudden ambivalence.

"Come on! She's one of Inoue's lackeys! I couldn't care less about her! She can go die in a fire for all I care! Besides, after what happened to Uomisaki-san, it's not like she's gonna automatically turn nice and good when we DO save her," Cure Dusk explained rather ambivalently as Cure Starlight managed to slash the lizard's back with her naginata while Cure Dawn managed to drop some rolling kicks on it strong enough to send it flying into some trees nearby.

"_She calls me inconsiderate, but she acts way more inconsiderate than I do! No one appreciates anything I do! No one ever says thank you to me! I'm sick of being treated like this whenever I do nice things for people!"_ The lizard yelled as it popped right back out and used its tail to knock Cure Dawn away.

"Dawn!" Being agile, Cure Twilight leaped in front of Cure Dawn like a high jumping cat and caught the yellow girl before she could fall on the concrete, saving her from potential brain damage or even death.

"Thanks, Twi," Cure Dawn replied sheepishly.

"No prob! That's what friends are for!" Twilight flashed a sweet smile as she put Dawn back on the sidewalk. Twilight then turned around and gave Dusk a scrutinizing look. "I don't like Shiina-san any more than you do. But I hated you at first and I saved you, didn't I? Either you're in, or you're out!"

"My, I've never seen a superhero say that she wants to leave a poor victim to her misery. That's quite a revolutionary feat if I do say so myself," Decebal said as Zenjin teleported away without a second thought.

"Hey! I know you!" Lovebeam suddenly shouted. "Didn't you used to be one of King Ghislain's royal guard?!"

"Wait, what?!" Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk suddenly exclaimed in unison, their eyes wide with confusion.

"He's an attendant in your king's castle?!" Dusk yelped.

"Girls! Help! This countdown says we have forty minutes and twenty five seconds left!" Starlight exclaimed as she punched the lizard in the face before it retaliated by swatting her with its head.

"I might as well," Cure Dusk deadpanned as she charged at the lizard with her fists bursting into spheres of writhing orange flames. "Dusk Fire Punch!" She shouted as she punched the lizard in the jaw and sent it flying. But she didn't stop there.

"This is what you get for being a prissy snob and pretending to be my friend, Shiina!" Cure Dusk shouted vehemently with fire blazing in her golden eyes as a ring of fire danced around her body. "Mandarin Dusk Inferno!" With a few movements of her arms, a huge tornado of fire exploded from underneath her feet, made a blazing arc in the sky, and completely swallowed the giant lizard like it was a predator dying to consume its prey. The black lizard writhed and howled in pain as it felt the skin on its body be burned off.

"Dusk! Be careful!" Cure Twilight shouted angrily.

Much to everyone's surprise, the tornado of fire suddenly stopped. The giant lizard became nothing more than thin air, leaving behind Toshiko's soul. Cure Twilight was the first to grab it, run over to Toshiko, now lying on the sidewalk unconscious like she's dead on the street, and put it back in her Soul Portal. She then stomped over to a frazzled Cure Dusk, stamping her feet and feeling satisfaction in making stomping sounds. "What's with you?! You always yell at me to be careful or someone'll get killed, yet here you go making a big tornado of fire!"

"That stupid Shiina girl deserves it for making a fool out of me last year!" Cure Dusk snapped back.

"Even so, you could have set the whole forest on fire! You need to be more careful with using your powers! You're the one always telling ME that!" Cure Twilight snapped back.

"Get outta my face!" Cure Dusk suddenly shouted, pushing the choleric Cure Twilight out of her personal space, unknowingly making her fall on the sidewalk via her rear. "We should never have bothered saving her! She actually deserves to suffer! Serves her right for playing me for a fool!"

"Dusk. Stop," Dusk felt a strong grip on her arm, turning around to find Cure Starlight, with a scrutinizing, stern look on her face, freezing her in place and sizing her up. "I don't know what happened between you and Shiina, but you should never let your anger get the better of you, especially when lives are at stake. If you really feel the need to be angry, know that there is a time and a place to express it."

"This is why women should never be superheroes, or even do anything at all. They always fight over stupid things and let their emotions get the better of them," Decebal piped in.

"Shut up, broccoli head!" Twilight, Dawn, and Lovebeam shouted in perfect unison.

"You just proved my point!" Decebal snapped back.

Cure Dusk had to admit, both Twilight and Starlight had good points. She discovered new powers, but went overboard with them and almost set the forest on fire. Thankfully, no trees got burned even though she left a big black mark on some grass, erasing them from existence. The boiling anger dying to burst out of her heart like an explosion finally died down, and she slowly and reluctantly lowered her arm, allowing Cure Starlight to take the liberty of letting go. She looked down at the sidewalk she's standing on and stamped her foot on it at least three times to make up. Cure Twilight helped herself get back on her feet. But instead of confronting Marina, she turned to Decebal with her own scrutinizing look.

"Alright, we want answers so you better spill the beans! Do you know anything about the countdown on the monsters we fought?!" Cure Twilight asked loudly and boldly, balling her fists like she wanted to punch him.

"I really don't see how this all important information will do you any good, but if you really must know, I suppose I can take the liberty of telling you. The monsters you call Corrupt Sentinels are all on a one hour time limit. You have to defeat them within the hour or…" He left the last sentence drift away.

"Or what?! Spill it?!" Twilight hissed.

"Take four guesses," Decebal deadpanned.

"Turn back to normal?" Anzu asked.

"Be monsters forever and ever?" Riko asked.

"The person who's been corrupted will die?" Hotaru asked grimly.

The green haired man snapped his fingers jubilantly. "Ding ding ding! Bingo! You win the prize!" Decebal exclaimed like he was some cheerleader. But he regained his equanimity by clearing his throat. "Ahem. Almost, anyway. If you don't defeat the monster after the one hour mark, even if you purify it and put the souls back in the Soul Portals, the person will be dead forever and ever. I have some errands to run, so I really hope you'll accept your place in society and do away with your little superhero act, if you want to stay alive. Ta-ta!" With that, Decebal disappeared into the air.

"Uuuuugh! I freaking hate that Shakespeare dressed, broccoli headed sexist pig!" Cure Dusk screamed as she turned back to normal and proceeded to kick an old, rusty red fire hydrant multiple times, not feeling very satisfied with the outcome of the fight. Who could blame her?

"Lovebeam. You said he used to work under your king. Care to explain some more?" Anzu asked gently.

"Yes. Our noble King Ghislain hired him when he was younger. It was a side job for him. His other job was an actor in a theater troupe. But at one point he got fired," Lovebeam explained.

"What for?" Riko asked.

"He didn't say. But I heard other people say he was fired because he questioned the king and queen's motives for ruling Rozaniela. But later on, he got rehired. To be perfectly honest, I never did like that Decebal guy! He was always too classy for his own good. I tried to tell the king and queen that rehiring him was a bad idea, but did they listen to me? Noooo!" Lovebeam elaborated, then whined petulantly at that last part.

"That's stupid," Marina piped in.

"So...if we don't purify the Corrupt Sentinels in an hour, the people will die for good?" Riko mused sadly.

"But it's good that we know this now. We can plan new battle strategies and work even harder at maintaining peace. That's a super hero's duty," Hotaru told them reassuringly, trying to instill some relief. But in her proud little heart, doubt swirled around like a whirlpool, just like everyone else.

"I'm tired. I need to cool off," Marina grunted as she stretched her arms out and walked away.

"I'm gonna go to Kyo-chan's house for the day," Lovebeam piped in as she flew away. Everyone else decided to retire for the day as well. Unbeknownst to them, Toshiko woke up and found her head pulsating from the inside.

"Ugh! What happened to me?" Toshiko complained as she stammered to her feet.

* * *

Rina laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling with the little flower shaped shades surrounding the lit up light bulbs. A big stuffed unicorn sat beside her, with a frizzy but beautiful pale lavender purple mane and tail, soft white fur like a rabbit, a gold and silver horn, beady black eyes, pink reins dangling from its mouth, and cotton candy pink hooves. Her malachite eyes are just as despondent as they were earlier today. She tossed on her bed and hugged her big unicorn plush, holding it so close and so tight it felt like she didn't want to let it go no matter what.

"Still no friends, Miss Unicorn," Rina said into her unicorn's fur, her voice muffled. She closed her eyes and found herself walking on the flashback sidewalk, even though she clearly didn't want to.

(flashback)

_At Hikaribashi Elementary, which is a simple one storied building unlike both the middle school and high school, where Riko and Hikage each go to, Rina found herself on the school's blacktop, all by herself in an ocean of happy children chasing each other, screaming, hanging out with their designated cliques, or playing some kind of game, like jump rope or four square. There are so many kids on the blacktop, she felt like a black sheep in a flock of white sheep. Who should she talk to? Would they invite her to play their games or would they reject her and act like she isn't there? Like usual._

_Then she noticed three girls clustered together, talking about something. Upon closer inspection, Rina couldn't believe her eyes. One girl has a pretty shirt with a unicorn on it! _'I like unicorns, too! If she likes unicorns like me, she can be my friend!'_ Rina thought with resolve in her heart. She remembered the lessons she learned about making friends at her last school. Say hi first. Talk nicely. Say please or thank you. Ask if you can play. Smile. Talk about things you both like. Compliment them. Be nice about it, too. She found herself in front of the girls, particularly the unicorn shirt girl in question._

"_Hello!" Rina chirped sweetly, causing the trio of giggling girls to turn around and freeze her in place with their flummoxed eyes. Rina did feel a little uncomfortable by the stares, but she shrugged off the feeling a kept going. "I really like your unicorn shirt."_

"_You do?" The unicorn shirt girl asked._

"_Yep! I like unicorns too! I'm Rina! Can I join you and your friends?" Rina piped in cheerfully, keeping a sweet smile. The three girls looked at each other with confused but uninterested faces._

"_Sorry, but we're busy," The unicorn shirt girl said. She and her two other friends suddenly dashed to another part of the blacktop like they were running away from a serial killer, leaving Rina despondent and all alone._

'Don't give up now. There's lots of other kids here. Maybe there'll be some other people who'll want to be your friend,'_ Rina told herself as she saw some girls playing jump rope a few feet away and walked over to them._

"_Hi! That looks like fun. May I please join you?" Rina asked as sweetly and politely as she could._

"_No. You're not invited. Go play somewhere else," One girl sneered as one of her friends stopped playing jump rope._

_She tried again._

"_Ooh! I like your earrings! They're pretty!"_

"_Can you, like, stay out of our space and go somewhere else?"_

_Rina's shoulders slumped and she turned around to walk away, her heart having been stepped on once again. But another idea popped into her mind. If she couldn't make friends with girls her own age, who's to say she can't be friends with boys? But then again, boys like video games and skateboarding and making messes and action figures. They don't like unicorns or Barbies or playing dress up or jewelry. However, there's nothing wrong with wanting to talk about new things. Besides, there's got to be some boys who like unicorns and Barbies, weird as that may sound. She saw two boys and approached them._

"_Hello!" Rina said. "May I please join you?"_

"_Buzz off, prissy! You're just gonna give us cooties!" One slightly overweight, frizzy haired boy snapped, causing Rina to flinch and take a few steps back in fright._

"_There's no such thing as cooties!" She shouted after shaking off her initial surprise._

"_Whatever. We're not interested in playing pwetty pwetty princesses and having tea parties! Go away!" The plump boy shouted as he took his friend and went to another part of the blacktop._

_Rina thought her heart got broken before, but now she was surprised there were still any pieces left. She tried and tried the best she could, but they all coldly rejected her, acting like she was going to give them all the Bubonic plague or something. Without anything more to do, she sat on the grass and watched the kids play and do their thing until the teachers called for everyone to line up and go back to their classes._

(end flashback)

"Why don't I have any friends? Why do they hate me? I'm not ugly and I'm not gonna give them germs or cooties, and none of them even met Oneechan. Why?" Rina asked her big unicorn plushie as some tears melted into its snow white fur. But two other questions kept lingering in her mind like a smoothie in a blender, and that made her more confused than anything.

"I had lots and lots of friends at my last school, so why don't they like me? And how come Riko's the one that has friends now and I don't?" She wished she had the answer to that question, but she didn't.


	10. Kyoya and Riko Fight?

Chapter 10: Kyoya and Riko Fight?! A Misunderstanding Between Friends!

The day after Marina almost went nuts with power, Riko saw something about Kyoya she never saw before.

It was on a Friday during gym class, when all the kids are shooting baskets in the gymnasium. Not for a professional game or anything. Just for fun. The gymnasium floor was abundant with children on two differing teams, playing a mock game of basketball for some physical exercise, the sound of their squeaking shoes, their jubilant, competitive shouts, and the bouncing of basketballs scenting the air with excitement and leaving dark dirt marks on the floor. They're all wearing plain white T-shirts and shorts of varying lengths and colors (No, not those underwear-like bloomers. I hate those). Other kids, like Riko, Marina, and Anzu, sat on the stage at the end of the gym, as they haven't been called in to switch with other kids yet. It did provide ample opportunity for one thing, however.

"Sorry I pushed you yesterday, Riko," Marina muttered in a low but apologetic voice.

"It's okay. I'm used to it," Riko replied softly. An opportunity to ask the question appeared before her, but she was unsure of whether she should take it or not. Would Marina get angry when she asked, or just ignore her and continue on with the game? Would she even give an answer at all? Riko thought about dropping the subject out of fear of hurting her feelings, getting a cold reception, or just plain getting yelled at, like people usually did whenever she asked just about anything. However, in her mind, she knew she had to ask, so, reluctantly, she took the plunge. "So...if you don't mind me asking, what did Shiina-san do to you that was so bad?"

"She and Anzu transferred here when we were in the fifth grade," Marina began with a slight grumble, continuing to stare down at her knees as her legs dangled from the edge of the stage they're sitting on. "She approached me and said she wanted to be my friend. I had doubts, but I was so happy that somebody wanted to be my friend, I didn't care. But she always made me carry her books around and left me out whenever she talked with Inoue and Amami. Then I overheard her laughing with Amami in the bathroom once," Marina balled her fists and her eyes trembled with slight anger. "As it turned out, she was only pretending to be my friend when she was actually planning to betray me long afterward. She wanted to make me beat someone else up to get me kicked out of school to prove to everyone that I really was going to be just like that man…" She cracked her knuckles, her eyes aglow with irritation, like she really wanted to drop some insane punches on that snotty, skinny little brat who stumbled onto the gym floor after getting a ball thrown at her. "I punched her out right then and there, but I got three detentions for it. God, I should never have been such an idiot! She reeled me right in and I fell for it like a retard."

"Ouch. Sorry about that," Riko mused softly, her heart going out to the angry, mandarin haired girl. It was bad enough people pick on her in general because of whatever her dad did, but someone actually went way out of their way to trick her and use her desire to have friends as a way to make her do whatever she told her to do, just so she could prove a false notion to everyone in school at the right moment? No wonder Marina wanted to leave Toshiko's soul out to dry and leave her to die. If Riko went through that, she'd never forgive both herself and the people using her. In fact, she'd want to beat them up and punish them for what they've done, just like Marina did, not that she's physically and mentally strong enough to do so. No one should have to be taken advantage of like that or have their feelings toyed with for selfish reasons. "Now I see why you hate her so much. I get it. I'd probably do the same thing you did if that ever happened to me."

"I'll bet. It would have been better if she hated me from the start, like everyone else did. She really didn't have to take advantage of my wish like that. What did I ever do to her that was so bad? God, don't you just hate it when people blame you for stuff you didn't do and never believe you when you try to tell them otherwise?" Marina piped in.

"Yeah. Teachers at my old schools thought I was a straight up bad kid because I covered my ears at loud noises, cried whenever they yelled, and couldn't be normal like other kids. I kinda know something's wrong with me, and I really don't care about being normal or popular or cool, but I wish they didn't have to make such a big deal out of it. They all made it sound like I killed someone or robbed a bank!" Riko replied.

"Ouch. With someone like me I can understand, but you? Just for not being like everyone else? Jeez. That's just overkill," Marina exclaimed, the angry glow in her eyes dissipating, replaced with a soft, warm one, just as warm as the feeling creeping into her heart right now. "But now...I kinda wish I met you back then. Maybe we could have been friends, kinda like...we're trying to be now. I'd probably do a better job at it than I am now," Marina whispered softly, in a wistful tone of voice this time.

Riko smiled.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask. Why _did_ you save me when Zenjin turned my soul into a giant fox? I picked on you, so you should have just ran in the other direction. I know other people would have. But why'd you save me?" Marina asked in a low whisper.

Riko didn't waste even a millisecond answering. "If I didn't know the real you, I probably would have. But I saw you being nice to the little kitten. Fern, was it? Yeah, that's it. Bullies aren't nice to animals. If you were nice to a cat, then you can't be a bad person, even though you acted like one. Plus, it'd be wrong to just leave you there to get beat up. If someone's getting hurt, you should help them, right? I've seen too many stories where people die and others could have saved them but choose not to," Riko explained as lucidly as she could.

Marina was speechless. She couldn't find it in her to say anything. She knew Riko was kind before, but she went that far just for her, the girl who harassed her on her first day of school and is always taking her anger out on her for stupid reasons. Marina looked away as she could feel her face burn, not with embarrassment but with joy, just like how her heart is burning with that same warmth...and she never thought she'd ever see the day where she'd actually have a real friend, a genuine one who doesn't pick on her or use her for her own gain. That's not what friends do. Friends care about each other.

The memory of Zenjin ripping out her soul was strong in her mind, especially since she actually saw herself attacking houses, wreaking havoc, and Riko putting herself in harm's way telling her she understands what she's going through. Riko really could have gone in the other direction and just allowed Marina-in her giant fox form-to destroy everything. She didn't. She stayed. She willing put herself in harm's way. She threw herself into the whole bout of craziness and discord for her, because she knew what was happening was wrong in some way, even though she might have wanted to run away or go some place safe. She tried to connect with her on some level, even though Marina had been cruel to her before. Riko definitely proved that she was sincere that day, even if the people who demonized and accosted her afterward were too stupid and closed-minded to see it, let alone care that she bothered to save their sorry butts.

"Ack! The ball!" Riko heard the shouts as one of the basketballs bounced outside the gym.

"I'll get it!" Riko yelled as she leaped off the stage and went after the ball. Riko wasn't cognizant of the fact that a warm, soft smile creeped onto Marina's blunt little face.

It would have been easy if the ball hadn't been going really fast and bouncing all over the place. It went really far by the time Riko rushed out of the gym. It took her a short while, but she saw the ball slowly roll into the nurse's office. The door was open, so it rolled in there. Quietly, Riko caught up to the ball and picked it up. She was about to go back to the gym until she saw something in there that kept her frozen in place, not out of fear, but of an intense curiosity and wonder.

It was Kyoya, with his hands tightly gripped on some parallel bars, struggling to walk all on his own.

A female nurse with short blonde hair stood next to him with a clipboard in her hands, silently watching as the red haired boy struggled to put one foot in front of the other. The bars themselves didn't look very new. They looked like makeshift ones made from wood. His knuckles, gripping the parallel bars for dear life, looked snow white from where Riko was standing, and even though Kyoya is standing up straight, he hunched forward just a little bit and his legs looked like they didn't want to carry his weight despite being straight. His left foot, exposed and without a sneaker to cover it, managed to pull itself in front of him, followed by his right foot a little bit afterward. The process repeated itself, and Riko noticed that there were always pauses between putting one foot in front of the other. Then again, he did say he was in a car accident, so it was natural his body wouldn't work the way it wanted to after something like that.

Especially since Kyoya's face, despite looking a little contorted, had the look of someone who was completely determined to walk again. He kept looking forward, not down at his feet or up at the ceiling. It didn't look like he wanted to stop either. One foot in front of the other. A thought creeped into Riko's head. If Kyoya's still having trouble walking since he's struggling to do so right now, how does he manage to crawl up a set of stairs on all fours? Doesn't it hurt? Riko wondered if Kyoya's legs are in pain, struggling to maintain his weight and move the way he wants them too. Why wouldn't they be, especially since he was in a car accident? But she also noticed something else: he didn't complain. He hasn't even grunted, whined, cried out from the pain, if there was any pain. He just kept on going silently, with that same fierce, contorted, determined look on both his pale face and his stunning green eyes, aglow like they were saying, _'I'm gonna do this and nobody's gonna stop me!'_

Suddenly, one of his feet gave out, but he managed to stop himself from falling flat on his face. The nurse gripped his arm right as he almost fell, saving him from the inevitable. It helped that both of his hands are still tightly gripping the parallel bars like they were superglued to them. He silently pulled himself back on his feet. He could have cried out, but he didn't. But before she could watch him attempt to do it again, she came back to reality when he turned his head to see her at the entrance, flashed his familiar, sweet smile, and finally peeled one of his hands off of one of the bars to wave. This made the nurse notice her presence too, and she silently waved as well. Riko wasn't sure what to do, but she did remember Saki saying that if someone waves at you, it's best to wave back, so she did just that.

"There you are. We have to go," Anzu's voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere, causing Riko to jump a little in fright as she turned around to find the blonde haired girl behind her, wearing her white T-shirt and knee length black shorts with a single grey stripe going down each side.

"Okay. Sorry about that," Riko said as she waved goodbye to Kyoya and gingerly followed Anzu out. "He's so strong."

"What's that?" Anzu asked.

"I wonder if his legs hurt when he tries to walk on them? If it does, he didn't cry out or make noises or anything like that. He just kept on trying. I wish I could be strong like he is," Riko mused wistfully.

Anzu smiled. "Yeah. I've never heard him talk about his disability or his sessions. Those are why he's exempt from gym class."

"What does exempt mean?"

"How do I explain it...Oh! Here's a good one. If your legs don't work and you get a note from the doctor that says you can't go to gym class, that means you're exempt."

"Ohhh. I get it. Yeah, I did notice he never goes to gym class, but I never got to ask him why. Now I know."

That was yesterday. On Saturday, Kyoya suddenly wheeled to the Tasogare house unexpectedly to hang out. They kept a ramp on their porch since his previous visit in case he wanted to drop by again. Riko couldn't believe her luck, and found herself jumping around the house cheering wildly and flapping her hands up and down, much to Kyoya's slight confusion and Rina's very vocal displeasure. Hikage suggested he take Riko and Kyoya for a nice little walk in town, to get them out of the house for a bit. At first, Arinao and Saki were reluctant since neither Riko or Kyoya have a cell phones, but Hikage does, and it's fully charged. Plus, he's been out on his own lots of times before, so they agreed and offered to pick them up when they were done with whatever they wanted to do. With that, Hikage took Kyoya and Riko out on a town excursion. They made sure to watch the crosswalk signs and traffic signals when crossing the streets.

"Hey. Wanna run into the dollar store with me? I want to pick up some new pencils and binders," Hikage asked kindly.

"Sure," Riko muttered. She then turned to Kyoya, who wheeled next to her. "Have you gone out on your own before?"

"Yep. Lots of times. Even in the rain," Kyoya replied rather casually, with his usual smile, like going out on his own in a wheelchair was the most normal thing in the world.

Riko couldn't help but tilt her head to one side, her mind slightly flummoxed by the casual way he mentioned it. "In the rain?"

"Just in my manual wheelchair. My electric one and rain don't mix," He clarified.

"But isn't that a bit dangerous? Won't you get hurt going around in a wheelchair all by yourself?" She asked innocently with mild worry peppering her sweet, gentle voice. "I mean, what if some guy tried to rob you with a knife? How would you be able to defend yourself?"

"See this thing here?" Kyoya said as he pointed to one of the shoulder straps on the white and green backpack sitting on his lap. Riko peered in closer to see a black plastic protrusion with what appears to be a round, silver key ring on it with a black Nylon strap dangling from it. "This is called an I-Safe. I pull this string here and it sets off an alarm that's so loud it can drive anybody away."

"Oh yeah. I remember seeing commercials for those. I wish I had one."

"My dad got this for me after the accident for safety purposes."

"He's smart. With all the criminals hanging around, no place is ever truly safe."

"Actually, I hear Japan is one of the safest countries around."

"I don't believe that. There's always criminals around every corner! You never know what to expect! That's why Mom and Dad tell me never to go out on my own."

Kyoya was about to say more until he felt one side of his wheelchair suddenly drop, like the ground below one of the wheels suddenly dropped out from under him. "Wah!"

"Kyo-chan!" Right as that happened, Riko managed to grab one of the back handles of the wheelchair and keep him from falling into what appears to be a reasonably large pothole next to the curb. It wasn't very deep, but certainly deep enough for an entire wheelchair wheel to fall into and cause Kyoya to get hurt, and it was about the size of a manhole cover. Even though Riko managed to catch him in the nick of time, the electric wheelchair and Kyoya combined proved to be quite heavy, and she couldn't pull him out right off. Then an idea hatched in her head like a newly hatching baby chick. Slowly, while keeping one hand on the handle, she crept to the other side of the pothole, put one hand on one of the arm rests, and moved her other hand on the other back handle. Unlike when she's a Pretty Cure, Riko doesn't have much muscle strength in her body. But there's cars going by them, and Kyoya's been in one car accident already. She didn't want to potentially lose her first friend and see him become roadkill. With a great heave, she pushed Kyoya's wheelchair out of the pothole and onto a safe part of the street where cars didn't pass right by them.

As soon as the whole ordeal ended, Riko found herself panting and heaving like she ran a marathon. "Whoa. Thanks for the help, Ri-chan," He said, flashing a smile. Riko couldn't believe he kept on smiling even after he almost fell out of his wheelchair which would throw him onto the street and be flat as a pancake with tire marks all over him.

"You're...welcome…" Riko panted croaked in between breaths. But inside, her heart is cheering and doing backflips joyously. _'Wow! I literally just saved Kyo-chan's life and actually did something right for once! Yaaaay!'_ She thought about actually voicing this sentiment, as she's hardly ever able to contain her joy about anything, until Hikage called out to them from the parking lot in front of the dollar store.

"Hurry up, you two! Be sure to watch for cars!" Hikage called out to them.

"We'll be there in a second, Niichan!" Riko called back in a loud voice that resounded in the air.

"Shall we go?" Kyoya asked sweetly, offering his hand to her.

"You bet!" Riko chirped back and found her hand interlocking with his as he moved his other hand on the joystick of his chair.

"Hey, your hands are soft," Kyoya piped in.

"Thanks. Lots of people tell me that," Riko replied sheepishly, but she actually didn't mind at all. She had to admit, Kyoya's hands are soft too, much softer than the hands of other boys. Usually male hands were rough or cracked from too much physical exercise or very arduous work. But neither of them minded. They kept holding hands until they went into the dollar store.

Riko couldn't quite believe she managed to get here on foot with Hikage and Kyoya at her side. Usually she only comes here with at least one of her parents, and by car, no less, and usually when running an errand. She's out on her own. Well, with her brother and male friend, yes, but it didn't make things any less surprising to the short haired, cat loving girl. As they searched through the aisles, Hikage went in a separate aisle while she kept walking behind Kyoya at all times so she wouldn't get in his way.

"You gonna buy anything?" Riko asked.

"Yeah. Maybe a snack or two. I have money," Kyoya replied sweetly. But he eyed a part of an aisle and saw some toothbrushes. "Oh! I do need a new toothbrush."

When Kyoya wheeled in front of the aisle with the toothbrushes, which are directly above him, he stopped and very slowly pulled himself out of his wheelchair. Riko backed away a couple steps to give him room, but she had to wonder why he's getting out of his wheelchair. Is he practicing trying to stand up? That seemed to be the most likely possibility.

"Do you need any help?" Riko blurted out.

"No, I'm good. Thanks, though," Kyoya replied sweetly as he was about to reach for one of the toothbrushes, particularly an emerald green one that looked nice. But right as he was about to grab it, the toothbrush was suddenly swiped out from right in front of him as soon as his hand was within reach. Kyoya slumped back into his wheelchair as he and Riko fixated their flummoxed gazes upon a mousy woman with long, curling caramell hair. She's wearing heavy crimson red lipstick, thick blue eye shadow, a dark blue jean jacket over a sunny yellow tank top, a black office lady's skirt, purple leggings and black high heels. With a wide smile, she handed Kyoya the toothbrush.

"Here you go!" The lady exclaimed as she handed the toothbrush to him.

Riko and Kyoya turned to look at each other for a few seconds, wondering where the heck she sprung forth from, and the red haired boy shyly took the toothbrush from her. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome!" The lady said, her relentlessly bubbly smile persisting on her plump face.

Riko and Kyoya left the aisle and continued to look around the dollar store. But whenever they turned their heads to look behind them every once in a while, they would see that flashy, bubbly looking lady behind them looking at various items in the same aisles they're in. _'She's starting to scare me, and it's not because of her lipstick and eye shadow either,'_ Riko thought. Kyoya did find other things he wanted, like a new pencil sharpener and a set of colored pencils. They were both in his reach and he wouldn't have had any trouble getting them. But when he tried to get them, the caramell haired lipstick eye shadow woman snatched them away and then handed them to him like he dropped them. When Kyoya went to pay for his purchases, the cashier put his purchases in a plastic bag and was about to hand it to him, but the lady took the bag from the cashier.

"I'll carry this for you, sweetie," The heavy lipstick and eye shadow lady said in a sweet voice.

'_Uhhh...she's helping him and he doesn't even have to ask for it?! Why couldn't people do that with me?! Kyo-chan's so lucky! But I wish she'd back off a bit. She's getting into our personal space and she smells like she sprayed violet perfume all over herself,'_ Riko thought, her round, white face aghast with the caramel haired, heavy lipstick and eye shadow woman's persistent and enthusiastic generosity in regards to Kyoya. But what Riko doesn't know is that Kyoya is giving her a mildly scornful look, like he really is wishing she'd back off and mind her own business. The woman even followed them out the door.

"Can I have my bag, please?" Kyoya asked in a monotone voice, like he was trying to hide some irritability.

"Here you go, sweetie. You have a good day," The caramel haired woman said sweetly as she handed him the plastic bag and skipped away to wherever it is her home is located, leaving a confused Riko and a slightly irritable Kyoya in front of the dollar store.

"That was...weird," Riko muttered.

"Tell me about it," Kyoya deadpanned.

"Do you know her?"

"No, and I don't want to."

"Hey, you guys!" Hikage's friendly, cheerful sounding voice snapped them out of their reveries as he very happily popped out from the entrance of the dollar store with a plastic bag in his hand. "You'll never believe this! I finally found a copy of the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie! God, I've been looking for this thing since I saw it at Takuro's sleepover three years ago!"

"I didn't know you like Batman," Kyoya replied, his usual casual smile returning to his face, pushing his initial irritability to the side.

"I'm not too crazy about it, but I like it. Hey, what'd you get?" Hikage replied with a laugh.

"He got a toothbrush, colored pencils, and a pencil sharpener. I didn't get anything," Riko told him.

"Okay. Want to head on home?" Hikage asked. Riko and Kyoya nodded and stayed behind Hikage as they walked away from the dollar store.

However, Riko couldn't quite get that prissy looking lady out of her head, and it wasn't because of her heavy lipstick, eye shadow, and tendency to get into their personal space, either. The caramel haired lady actually went out of her way to help Kyoya with literally everything. She even offered to carry his bag while they left the dollar store. She's never met anyone who was that nice to someone before. Better yet, she wished she had someone help her without asking like that. A pang of jealousy shot through her heart which caused her to speak.

"That lady was kinda weird. But she sure was nice, though," Riko chirped.

"Yeah," Kyoya said in a low, uninterested voice as he wheeled next to her.

Riko clasped her two hands together and looked up at the sunny sky with a somewhat happy glow in her dark green eyes. "She helped you with everything and you didn't even have to ask for it. I have to admit, you're lucky to have people help you with stuff like that."

It's here that Kyoya's face suddenly grew dark, and he silently stopped in his tracks. He stared down at the shopping bag on his lap, a glare on his glasses obscuring his eyes from view. His sweet smile was literally wiped off of his face like a rag washing spilled milk on someone's counter. Unfortunately, Riko was still talking and walking, completely oblivious to Kyoya's unprecedented change in demeanor.

"Nobody ever helped me when I was little, even when I asked nicely. They kept telling me stuff like, _'Get over it!'_ or _'You need to do this stuff yourself! The world doesn't revolve around you!'_ or _'Don't bother me! You should know better than to make people solve your own problems, you spoiled brat!'_ or _'You should have studied! You never listen or pay attention! That's why you're so stupid and dumb!'_ and then they'd help other people who have the same problems as me! It was so not fair!" Riko exclaimed until she finally noticed that Kyoya wasn't next to her. She looked behind her to find that Kyoya, downcast, is sitting just five feet from her.

"Ack! Did I walk too fast? Sorry!" Riko yelped as she walked back over to him. But she did notice he's looking down at the shopping bag on his lap, his glasses covered eyes downcast, not with sadness, but with anger, like someone insulted him. "Is something wrong? You look angry."

At first, Kyoya said nothing, and continued to stare down at his lap. But he curled one of his hands into a fist and could feel his fingernails digging into his palms. "Are you serious?" He muttered in a low voice.

"Huh? What was that?" Riko asked, confused and not quite sure why his voice suddenly got low. But she could recognize the tone all too well.

"Do you actually think I _like_ having people do things for me that I can clearly do by myself?" Kyoya grumbled, slightly louder this time, but not to a point where Riko had to cover her ears. He gripped his armrests tighter than usual, like he wanted his hands to go snow white.

Riko cocked her head to one side, not quite comprehending what he just said nor the meaning of it. "Uhh...what does that mean?"

'_I can't believe it. She thinks I can't do anything on my own, just like that lady and everyone else. I can't believe I'm still so stupid as to believe I could find someone who doesn't pity me or see me as a broken thing they can protect or scorn to make themselves look good,'_ Kyoya thought bitterly. An image of himself in a dark room with a group of kids, three boys and one girl, leaving him in the spotlight and walking further and further away from him flashed through his mind like a fast moving film reel. Finally, unable to put a lid on the jar of rage in his proud little heart, he slammed his fist into the armrest that doesn't have the joystick on it and stared daggers at a frightened Riko, who took a few steps back.

"You're an idiot, you know that!" Kyoya shouted vehemently, causing Riko to cover her ears. With that piece of rhetoric, Kyoya moved the joystick on his chair and took off in another direction, leaving a frightened and flummoxed Riko all alone on the sidewalk. Once he was gone, she slowly removed her hands from her ears, but her heart is now a sea of confusion with ferocious sharks swimming in it.

"Did I...do something wrong again? As usual? What did I do this time?!" Riko asked softly at first, then louder.

"What's up, Riko? Where's Kyoya?" Hikage asked as he popped up from behind Riko.

"He said to go on ahead of him," Riko blurted out without thinking. It wasn't quite because she didn't want him to know. In fact, in a way, she still doesn't quite understand what happened just now. _'Should I tell him, or should I not? Ugh! I don't know what to do! I don't even get what just happened!'_ Riko thought as she and Hikage decided to return home by themselves, trusting that Kyoya made it home by himself without difficulty.

However, instead of a sea of confusion, Riko's heart has been pierced and broken, now a sea of sorrow, the pieces of her broken heart drowning with questions that are popping up like great white sharks hungry for human flesh to consume. Why did Kyoya call her an idiot? He usually never does that and is always nice to her. Did she say something she shouldn't have? Riko always knew she had a tendency to do that, and people usually did call her out on it, very loudly and cruelly at that, but how is she supposed to just know what's appropriate to say and what isn't? He did say something like how she seems to think he likes having people help him with stuff he can do himself, but what is that supposed to mean? The concept is just a big, tangled cobweb she couldn't quite untangle. Perhaps when she gets home, she can ask Saki about it. Maybe she can help. She always knows what to say and always manages to make things she doesn't know about easier to understand. Arinao would have been better, but as far as she knew, he's at work today and won't be home until night time. But then again, Saki might be out walking Yumiko. So that left one other person…

* * *

"Ugh!" Kyoya picked up a random stone from the ground and growled as he threw it at a nearby tree. The rock made a click sound as it peeled off a piece of old bark and bounced onto the ground until it stopped dead in its tracks. But it wasn't enough to squelch the boiling lava spilling out of his inner volcano. After that, he angrily tried to swing his legs back and forth. They moved, but they felt more like squiggly noodles dangling from a wall than his legs swinging back and forth. After that, he hung his shopping bag on one of the back handles of his wheelchair and crossed his arms.

"I hate this. I hate it when they do that. Treat me like I'm some broken kid who can't do anything on his own. Pheh!" Kyoya muttered irritably as he smacked his fist onto one of his armrests. "She actually had the nerve to say I was lucky! What does she know?! Nothing, that's what! She's just like the rest of them! They all look at me with those pitying eyes that say, _'Poor widdle cripple boy! He can't do anything at all because his legs are broken! It's such a pity! Let's help him and treat him like he's brain dead so we can feel good about ourselves!'_ They can all suck it," Kyoya growled vehemently and smacked his armrest again.

The boiling lava didn't stop flowing, but after yelling out his frustrations, the flow lessened somewhat, which also gave him time to remember his lashing out at her. Upon further reflection, when he looked at Riko, she really did look like she genuinely didn't know what the heck he was talking about. Her emerald eyes trembled and were full of confusion, surprised by his completely random and unprecedented outburst. She truly had been nice to him since the beginning of school, though that was because he was nice to her first. They laughed together, hung out together, talked about their interests, and not once did Riko ever exclude him or treat him like he was some broken toy that needed fixing. But then again, maybe she's acting. Is she just that good at pretending to be his friend? He wished he could figure out the answer. He still wished she didn't say that he was lucky to have that prissy caramel haired lady fawn over him and act like she was his maid servant.

He wanted to be lost in his thoughts some more. But a loud, yippy barking sound pulled him out of his reverie, shocking him into turning around and seeing a woman trying to kneel down and calm a very yippy little miniature Australian shepherd.

"Yumiko!" The woman kneeled down to the dog's level, finally put some fingers down into her collar, and put her other hand right around the yippy little dog's muzzle. "No! We do not bark at friends! Bad!" The woman told the dog in a firm voice.

A miniature Australian shepherd? Yumiko? "Saki?" He finally blurted out.

"Huh? Kyoya-kun!" As it turns out, the woman is Saki, Riko's mother. She's wearing a simple cotton candy pink cardigan underneath a dark blue jean jacket, lighter blue jeans, and old, dingy white sneakers with lots of brown dirt marks on various places. "Hi there!" Saki chirped with a smile as she walked over to Kyoya, keeping her hand tight around Yumiko's red leash.

"Taking Yumiko for a walk?" Kyoya asked sheepishly.

"Yes. She's rather high strung, so I make it a point to take her out every three hours. Sorry about her barking earlier. She can be pretty yippy around strangers. What are you doing here?" Saki explained as she saw a bench near where Kyoya is and sat down.

Kyoya crossed his arms. "I just wanted to stroll around a little. It sucks staying in the house all day," Kyoya replied.

"But weren't you with Hikage and Riko earlier?" Saki asked. Kyoya fell silent and kept his arms crossed. But Saki could clearly see his contorted mad face, even though the red haired, bespectacled boy tried to hide it. "Something's bothering you. Would you like to talk about it? I'll listen. But if you don't want to, that's fine."

Another thought struck Kyoya's mind like a bolt of lightning. Riko might think he's broken, but Saki might not think so. Children and their parents aren't the same. Maybe she'll understand. He really didn't want to take another risk, but he had to try, so why not? He sighed and uncrossed his arms, letting them slump on his lap as Yumiko cheerfully leaped onto Saki's lap. "...Riko and I got into a bit of a fight earlier."

"What happened? That's unusual."

"While we were in the dollar store, some lady kept helping me with stuff even though I could do it all by myself. She acted like she was my maid. I wanted to tell her to back off, but I didn't want to make a scene. Later on, Riko said I was lucky to have people helping me with stuff like that."

Saki sweatdropped and chuckled a bit. "Did she?" _'Oh no. It's finally happened. I knew it. He must have misinterpreted it,'_ Saki thought.

"It's not funny!" Kyoya snapped. "I hate it when people help me with stuff like I'm some brain dead kid who has to have everybody do everything for them! They all think that just because I'm in a wheelchair, it automatically means I can't do anything on my own! Ever! I'm not brain dead! I...I thought Riko was different from them," His voice caught in his throat for a little bit upon remembering Riko and all the times she was nice to him. "She actually treated me like a person, and she never brought up my disability, but here she goes and says I'm lucky to have them help me, like she was saying that I like having people pity me and help me with stuff I can clearly do myself!"

"I see. I can see where you're coming from, even though I'm not disabled myself. However, I will say this: while I do agree that what Riko said was a tad inappropriate, I guarantee she didn't mean it to be rude or pitying or offensive, and I really don't think she pities you or treats you like you're broken," Saki told him kindly while stroking Yumiko's raven black fur.

"How can you be so sure?" Kyoya asked in a softer voice this time. But the fact that Saki is Riko's mother flashed through his mind, and he immediately wished he hadn't said that.

"I'm her mother, that's why. I actually know how this whole thing started. If you want, I can tell you," Saki said.

"What is it?"

"Let me ask this first: do you know what Autism is?" Saki asked.

Kyoya crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and tried to think. Some answers popped up, but he didn't know if they were accurate or not. "Isn't that some kind of brain disorder? I heard about it on TV."

"Yes. It's a neurological disorder that affects how a person perceives the world, particularly with how she sees, feels, and experiences things and the way her brain processes new information," Saki began. "See, Riko's brain is wired differently from others'. She has difficulty acting in ways other people perceive as _'normal.'_ For her it's hard to talk to people, look them in the eye, and she has a tendency to display odd characteristics like flapping her hands and rocking back and forth when she's stressed."

'_Look them in the eye?'_ Kyoya thought. Right as Saki mentioned the part with autistic people not looking people in the eye, a memory flashed through his brain. He did notice that Riko hardly ever looked people in the eye, not even among her friends. He remembered asking her about it once, and she replied it was a habit, nothing else.

"Autistic people also have a hard time recognizing facial expressions and knowing what's appropriate to say and what isn't, so they have to be taught those things be scratch. I think I understand now. Riko might have said something she didn't know was offensive and rude. I'm sure she didn't mean it. Heck, I guarantee you that she doesn't even know what the word pity means, nor might she be able to understand the concept of helping someone because they think the person they're helping can't do anything on their own just because they have a single disability," Saki explained. "And she might have used a tone of voice that wasn't appropriate. She does have an unfortunate tendency to say inappropriate things that get mistaken as rude or mean, but it's never to be so. But her Autism makes her unable to differentiate what's appropriate to say and what isn't, from the tone of her voice to the words she puts together."

Kyoya silently took in Saki's explanation, and with every word that came out of her mouth and every memory of Riko being nice to him without being overly sensitive or protective flashing through his mind, he began to feel more and more like he completely ruined their friendship. Riko never did make eye contact, but he never found that to be an issue. She did cover her ears when the kids yelled and screamed loudly, and that was understandable. He did see her flap her hands up and down once when she got stressed out, but he never found that to be an issue either, even though other kids might have. But if she really has a brain disorder like that, and really doesn't understand a concept like pitying someone or using excessive kindness to hurt people's pride, then she really was being genuinely kind to him all along!

Worse than that, he called her an idiot for it.

"Awwww!" Kyoya groaned loudly as he pushed his hands through his wild red hair, bending downward. "I'm so freaking stupid! I wish I knew this earlier! I can't believe I thought she was implying that I liked having people treat me like I'm brain dead! I called her an idiot, but I'm the _real_ idiot around here!" He wailed ruefully as he buried his face in his hands, pushing his glasses upward. How could he have been so terrible to the one person who's actually been consistently kind to him and actually treated him like a human being who can do some things and not others, not like a permanently broken, helpless being that needs help with everything? He wished he could turn back time and change it so he wouldn't have lashed out at her like that. She didn't deserve that. What did she do to deserve it? Nothing, that's what. "I'm sorry, Saki-san. I'm horrible."

"You're not. You're not the first person to misconstrue what she said. We've been trying to rectify this for a while, but Riko still has a long way to go. But I think I know what she really meant when she said you were lucky. I think when she saw that lady helping you out without you asking, she felt jealous. When she was younger, people who were supposed to help her when she needed it absolutely refused to do so, mainly because they were convinced she was a straight up bad kid and that Autism was just a flimsy excuse for bad behavior," Saki told him. Kyoya couldn't help but be surprised she isn't yelling at him or berating him for his stupidity.

"Really?" Kyoya asked as he pulled his face out of his hands to listen more. Upon further rumination, he did hear Riko say something similar and elaborate on it, but at that time, he was too consumed by his anger to bother listening.

"Yes. She's not a bad kid by any means, and she never has been. But we used to live in a part of town where people were very closed-minded. They didn't believe Autism was an actual disability, just a flimsy excuse parents made up to justify _'bad behavior.'_ One teacher even told us to our face that Arinao and I were bad parents who don't discipline her correctly, but in reality, Riko was the best behaved out of all of them. Kids would pick on her constantly and that teacher would take their side, and it never helped that she always yelled and screamed and blew everything Riko did out of proportion to ridiculous extremes and made everything out to be her fault. It broke my heart to see my daughter come home crying every single day," Saki explained as Yumiko hopped back down on the ground.

Kyoya's anger disappeared into thin air. He found himself feeling like a pile of bricks was duct taped to his body. His shoulders sagged, and he felt empty inside, with a big gaping hole of guilt wide open in his heart for all to see. It was bad enough calling her an idiot for something that isn't even her fault, but people actually thought she was bad to the bone just because she didn't act like the other kids and displayed some eccentric behavior that they were convinced was bad behavior when it really wasn't? How can anyone be so stupid? What did Riko do to deserve that? Sure, Kyoya couldn't quite imagine what Riko went through, but considering she always looks like she's about to cry whenever someone yells (namely Marina) or is always paranoid about what people will think, it had to have been absolutely traumatizing. To think he thought he had it bad. He took what Riko said the wrong way and possibly ruined their hard earned friendship just like that. He knew he had to fix it. If he didn't, Riko will probably think Kyoya hates her for life, and he doesn't want her to be friendless and guilt-ridden. An image of four other boys and one girl flashed through his mind again, but he didn't want to think about them right now.

"Thanks for telling me all of this, Tasogare-san. I really want to go and apologize," Kyoya said.

"Do you want to come right now?" Saki asked.

"I'd like to, but I have to be home by one because Dad has to go to work, and I have homework to do," Kyoya replied ruefully. Oh, how he yearned to just go to Riko's house and apologize to her. But then again, she might not be in the mood to deal with him right now.

"I see. Well, I have to go home myself. I'm glad I could be of some help. But I will say this though: thank you for being her friend," Saki told him kindly as she stood up from the bench. "Riko really is sweet. It's just nobody ever gives her a chance. It makes me happy you're her first friend, and while I don't approve of you calling her an idiot, I don't think she'll hold it against you. The problem is, she blames herself for pretty much everything that goes on in life, mainly because of what that wretched school did to her, so if she gets paranoid and thinks you don't want to be her friend anymore and will hate her forever, try not to take it seriously."

"Okay. See ya."

"I'll see you later," Saki said as she waved and let Yumiko drag her away from the area. With that, Kyoya rolled the big wheels on his manual wheelchair and strolled away, happy to at least know that Riko didn't mean anything bad by that comment, nor was she ever intending to make him feel bad. But he still wished he hadn't doubted her and lashed out at her in the first place. Then again, how could he have known she was autistic? It's not like it's firsthand knowledge, and it's not like she even knows about anything that he went through. But more than anything, he wanted nothing more than to apologize to her and finally squelch the guilt that's eating at his heart. However, his dad is going to go to work soon, and he has to be home by a certain time or he'll get in trouble. Stupid early morning curfews.

* * *

Around the same time Saki ran into Kyoya, Riko and Hikage walked right into the door. Rina isn't home right now because she's at a weekend piano lesson, which gave Sunbeam free reign to do whatever she wanted. Riko's in charge of Sunbeam this weekend. But as of now, Sunbeam is still in Riko's room. Once Hikage put his stuff down, he turned toward Riko with a concerned look.

"Want to tell me what happened?" Hikage asked.

"What do you mean?" Riko asked back. _'Oh no! Did he find out?! Is he angry?! Is he gonna blame me if I tell him?!'_ Riko thought hysterically, but she didn't voice them.

"I heard him shout back there. Did something happen?" Hikage asked again. "I won't get mad."

'_There's no denying it. I better face the music and receive my punishment,'_ Riko thought bitterly as she told Hikage about the prissy lady who kept helping Kyoya with everything in the store, Riko and Kyoya talking, and then Kyoya lashing out at her and leaving. Hikage took it all in like he was drinking lemonade out of a bendy straw and didn't interrupt as she explained.

"Do you remember saying anything to him before he yelled?" Hikage asked.

"Uhh...oh! I do! But all I said was that he was lucky to have people help him out all the time and not have to ask for it," Riko replied.

"Ohhh. I get it now," Hikage said as he sat down on the living room couch. "I think that was it."

"What was what?"

"I think I get why he was angry. But it might take some explaining. Let's say for example...you're in a wheelchair and there's someone doing everything for you, so much so that she just won't leave you alone. She'll even want to help you chew your food. Would you like that?" Hikage explained.

Riko crossed her arms and ruminated. "I wouldn't mind if it was explaining stuff I don't get and standing up to bullies, but chewing my food for me? Ugh! No!" She replied, disgusted by the thought of someone chewing someone else's food for them. Won't that make people get diseases?

"Alright. Then later on, you find out this person is only helping you because she thinks that because you're in a wheelchair, you're so broken you can't do anything, even though it's just your legs that don't work. Would you like that?"

It took a bit of time for Riko to untangle that cobweb, but she managed to comprehend what Hikage was saying. "Helping me because she thinks I can't do anything at all? No, I wouldn't like that."

"See where I'm going with this, Riko? I think Kyoya was angry at that woman for helping him with stuff he can already do on his own, and when you said he was lucky to have her help him, I think he took it as you saying that he can't do anything on his own _because_ he's in a wheelchair," Hikage explained, hoping Riko would get it this time.

"WHAT?!" Riko yelped loudly. Since Rina, Saki, and Arinao aren't here right now, Riko considered it okay to yelp with surprise. She couldn't believe it! Kyoya thinks she thinks he can't do anything at all because he's in a wheelchair? That can't be right! She remembered Fukiko asking her if she was freaked out by his being in a wheelchair, and that scared her quite a bit. She could understand not liking someone because they're in a wheelchair, but thinking that one disability instantly means being incapable of looking after themselves? Is that why the lady at the dollar store helped him? Because she thought he couldn't do it himself simply because he's in a wheelchair? Who thinks that? In some way, Riko could relate.

She was NOT going to let Kyoya go through life thinking Riko only befriended him because she thinks he's helpless and needs to be protected from everything.

"No no no no no! That was absolutely NOT what I meant AT ALL!" Riko shouted. "The only reason I said he was lucky was because the woman was helping him without him asking for it, and nobody did that for me when I was little! I was just jealous! I thought she was being nice! I didn't know she was being overbearing! How am I supposed to know the difference?" After that, she stopped yelling and stared down at her bare feet, her emerald eyes downcast and her voice trembling sadly. "I don't think he's weak and helpless at all. He's strong...way stronger than me. I passed by the nurse's office once and I saw him trying to walk again. It must hurt trying to get back on his feet, but he never complained or anything. He just kept on getting back up and going. Plus he's good at lots of things, like math and telling jokes and making Kosaka and Inoue leave him alone," Some tears started dripping out of her eyes, falling on the living room rug and leaving dark marks.

Hikage smiled sweetly and rubbed his little sister's head of black hair with his hand. "I know you didn't mean anything bad by it. You just don't know what's appropriate to say and what not to. But you really shouldn't put people on the spot when it comes to personal stuff, y'know. Would you like it if someone told you really loudly, _'Is it true you flap your hands and rock back and forth?'_ in front of people?" Hikage told her gently.

"No."

"I think that's how he felt. But I think he'll understand if you explain to him that your disability makes you unable to know what's appropriate to say, what tone of voice to use, and what words to use."

"Uuuugh!" Riko wailed as she slumped onto the couch next to him. "Why do I always do this?! People always think everything I say is bad when I don't mean it to be! Now my first ever friend is gonna hate me forever and not want to be my friend anymore all because I hurt his feelings and didn't mean to!" Riko cried hysterically.

"Calm down. You don't know that," Hikage told her calmly, putting a firm hand on her shoulder, but it's not working.

"But it always happens! The minute I open my mouth, people automatically decide I'm a bad kid and decide they hate me forever! I wish I was deaf so I won't be able to talk and hurt people's feelings with everything I say! Now I completely ruined my friendship with Kyo-chan and it'll probably never be fixed!"

"What did I tell you about jumping to conclusions?"

"I need the phone!" Riko exclaimed as she tried to get up from the couch. "I have to say I'm sorry NOW!"

Hikage grabbed her arm and stopped her from going into the kitchen. "I don't think that's a good idea. He might not want to talk right now."

"But I have to say I'm sorry NOW! If I don't tell him he's gonna get the wrong idea forever even though he's gonna hate me forever! He'll think I don't feel bad about what I said!" Riko protested.

"I think he will. But I think you both need time to cool off. Get some rest. That way, you can think about what you're going to say and talk to each other without feeling so stressed," Hikage told her calmly and gently.

"But I don't wanna wait! I don't wanna spend my whole weekend feeling bad and feeling like everyone's treating me like I killed someone!"

"Nobody's treating you like you killed someone. You don't need to freak out. Let's wait until Monday and you can apologize to him then. I think it'd be better if you told him face to face," Hikage said.

With that, Riko pulled his arm off of her, dashed into her room, plopped onto her bed, and cried into a huge white stuffed animal with a big brown stain on it's big, hippo-like nose. "I'm so sorry, Kyo-chan! I don't think you're helpless because you're in a wheelchair! That's not what I was saying! I should never have said what I said! Better yet, why can't I be mute?!"

"Can you keep it down, please? My head's pounding and I'm not feeling too good," Sunbeam piped in as she was reading one of Riko's beloved Moomin books, _Finn Family Moomintroll_.

Oh, how Riko yearned to apologize to the first friend she ever made RIGHT NOW. She wanted to teleport to his house and apologize to him profusely and fix the possibly unfixable damage she unknowingly caused. Now she understood why Kyoya lashed out at her-he thought she was implying that he can't do anything on his own and is happy people help him when they should mind their own business. She buried her face into her stuffed animals, wishing, wishing, and wishing with all of her might that Monday come already so she can apologize. She wishes she could do it over the phone, though. That'd be easier. But then again, he might not be in the mood, so maybe Hikage's right. Maybe they do need to calm down and cool off, this way Riko can come up with the right words to use to apologize to him and explain to him that she was definitely NOT implying what he thought she was implying. Besides, if Kyoya really were weak and helpless, he wouldn't be able to stand up for himself or anyone else if Yoshie or Yuji picked on him and his friends, nor would he be trying so hard to be able to walk again during his physical therapy sessions at school.

The weekend felt like it was being stretched out like really long white dough people use to make pizza with. All Riko could possibly think about was how to apologize to Kyoya, even though she managed to set aside time for homework. She knew that if she forgot about her homework and didn't do it, her teachers would get mad or even give her a detention, and Riko really didn't want to have to stay after school because of her own carelessness. Oddly enough, Rina didn't pick on her the whole weekend. Even she found Riko's constant worrying and persistent anxiety to be quite unsettling, and just didn't have it in her to pick on her. In fact, Rina couldn't help but feel her heart break inside seeing her older sister looking like she had a really bad day. Once Riko finished her homework, when her parents and Hikage weren't looking, she grabbed the phone, ran to her room, and called the Mitomo house, unable to endure waiting any longer. The phone rang a few times, but no answer. She called again two hours later. No answer. After that, she gave up, mainly because if she tried to call again, her parents and Hikage would know about it and tell her she shouldn't call so much. It'll make them think she's trying to stalk them. Riko wanted to contradict them, but she knew they had a point, so she stopped and tried to go through the rest of the grueling weekend.

She had to admit, though, the good thing about this weekend is that Zenjin, Decebal, and the Corrupt Sentinels aren't around to make things worse for them. If they started causing trouble, Riko knew that she'd never be able to be a proper Pretty Cure and fight them off in her state of mind. In fact, she was convinced all she'd do is destroy everything and put people's lives in jeopardy, and she knew Marina would yell at her about it and make it sound like she did it on purpose. She thanked God for at least not making them fight any Corrupt Sentinels this weekend. But still, the guilt that was gnawing at her heart made her want to scream and throw a tantrum. She wanted to get it all out and over with, but she couldn't, because screaming and throwing tantrums isn't appropriate. That's what everyone always told her. But she did make up for it by grunting, spinning sometimes, flapping her hands rapidly, and stamping her foot a couple times. Sunbeam, who was still reading, didn't say anything, even though she found Riko's eccentric displays a little unsettling.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Monday's sunshine finally brightened up the world with it's golden effulgence. The laughter of the children on the blacktop made the air around them quite lively. After Saki dropped her off, Riko looked all over the blacktop for the red haired boy. He's the only kid in a wheelchair in the whole school, so it shouldn't be too hard to find him. She's so intent on finding Kyoya that she's completely oblivious to the fact that Yuji Kosaka is right behind her, trying to sneak up on her.

"Hey, stupid diaper baby! I'm talkin' to you!" Yuji yelled but Riko completely ignored him.

"Leave her alone, Kosaka!" Yuji turned around to find Kyoya behind him, with the stern look he always used when dealing with him.

"Tell yer stupid diaper baby retard friend to get the heck over here, Four Eyed Cripple! I gots a bone to pick with her, yo!" Yuji yelled vehemently for all to hear.

"Kyo-chan!" Riko finally found Kyoya upon hearing his voice, but stopped when she saw Yuji's rotund figure in front of him.

"You're the only big baby around here, Kosaka. In fact, you're way more of a baby than she is," Kyoya retorted venomously.

"You tell'em, Mitomo!" Anzu shouted from afar.

"I'mma deck you!" Yuji charged at the unafraid Kyoya with a big plump fist, but the red haired boy moved his joystick back and managed to avoid the punch. Yuji tried again. Again, Kyoya swerved back. Again, again, and again. Finally, realizing that punching him will be futile, Yuji stamped his feet, kicked a stone onto the sidewalk, and stomped away, making a big show of stamping his big feet on the concrete. Marina and Anzu arrived as soon as he left.

"What was that about?" Marina asked.

"Beats me," Kyoya said.

Then it hit Riko. "Oh! Kyo-chan! I just wanted to-"

"I'm sorry, Riko," Kyoya interjected, his calm face morphing into that of an apologetic one, his emerald eyes filled to the brim with remorse. "I should never have called you an idiot, and I'm sorry I took what you said the wrong way."

Riko shook her head dejectedly. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I said something I shouldn't have. But I swear to God, I never ever meant anything bad by it! Honest! I never meant to hurt your feelings or make you think I'm friends with you because I think you're weak and helpless, which I KNOW you're not! You're absolutely more than welcome to hate me and decide you don't want to be my friend anymore! I deserve it for being the stupid retard I am!" Riko exclaimed. Already she could feel the weight of guilt being lifted off of her.

"Riko. I don't hate you, I still want us to be friends, and you're not a retard. I should have been more understanding. I'm sorry for thinking you were pitying me," Kyoya told her kindly.

Riko tilted her head to one side. "What does pity mean?"

"You seriously don't know what pity is?" Marina asked, flummoxed by the fact that Riko doesn't know what that word means.

"No. Am I supposed to?" Riko asked back.

Kyoya's eyes are as wide as saucers, and he couldn't prevent the ungraceful dropping of his jaw. He did a double take. _'God, I thought she pitied me yet she actually doesn't know what the word even means?! Wow, Saki-san was right!'_ Before he could stop himself, he found himself exploding into a paroxysm of merry laughter which helped shed the guilt off of him.

"What did I do this time?" Riko asked, feeling a bit offended by his laughing, even though he isn't laughing at her.

"Sorry. When you pity someone, you feel sorry for them and think you have to protect them and feel like they can't do anything on their own," Kyoya explained after calming down.

"Ohhhh. Well, I _don't_ pity you. You're strong and brave and can do lots of things! I'm the one who's weak and helpless and stupid," Riko said, feeling better upon understanding everything a little better. A warm, happy glow began to curl into her heart and make her eyes sparkle, pushing the sadness away. She had to wonder if this is what it's like to get into fights with friends and make up again. Kyoya could tell he was forgiven, though Saki was right in that she acted a little bit paranoid. He had to wonder if Riko doesn't feel like she deserves forgiveness for anything. "I did try to call you yesterday but you didn't answer."

"Sorry. I go to the hospital on weekends for physical therapy. That's why," Kyoya replied. The bell's vociferous ringing resounded in the air as soon as he explained why he didn't answer the phone on Sunday.

"We better get to class," Kyoya said with his usual congenial smile as he held his hand out to Riko. To Riko, this was a sure sign that she is officially forgiven.

"Yeah," Riko replied sweetly as she put her own hand in his as they walked into Hikaribashi Middle School's building together.

But what the two of them don't know is that the girl who's been watching them lately, Fukiko, saw them make up. The girl kneaded one of her tank top straps with her spindly fingers as she tried to get into the school building, with her hazel eyes looking very wistful, like she really wanted to talk to them but couldn't.

Author's Note: This chapter has been officially finished on Autism Awareness Day! (I just never got around to posting it until now)


	11. Sunbeam Isn't Very Sunny Today

Chapter 11: Sunbeam Isn't Very Sunny In This Sunshine!

Sniveling. Sobbing. It's the second time she's heard it, and her room is still blue with the Tuesday sunshine trying to wake up and get ready to bring in the new day. Riko found herself awoken yet again by the familiar yet unsettling and heartbreaking sound of Sunbeam crying in her sleep. It's the second time she's had to take care of her, and the fluffy little orange and yellow fairy still hasn't recovered from that awful day, the day she found out Zenjin-a kid who she tried to befriend-never considered her to be a friend, and very cruelly cut her off like she was a leech sucking out his blood. Riko turned around in her bed to find Sunbeam sleeping next to her, with dark droplet marks on her pillow underneath her.

"Zenjin...stupid stupid stupid! I...hate you!" Sunbeam mumbled in her sleep as she tried to bury her head in the pillow Riko put out for her.

"Sunbeam…" Riko whispered softly as she took her finger and poked the stirring little orange creature with it. When that didn't work, she shook her with it gently. "Sunbeam. Wake up."

Sunbeam stopped stirring, and she turned to look at the weary but concerned and worried Riko, her sky blue eyes wet and puffy from too much tears. Riko's heart sank the minute she saw that chubby, orange, sad face again. It was bad enough watching her cry the first time. Then again, considering how cruelly Zenjin broke her, she isn't surprised. But it didn't lessen her worry any.

"Are you having a nightmare?" Riko asked as she rubbed her eyes. Sunbeam sat up, rubbed her puffy, tear stained eyes with her little paws, and nodded. Riko sat up and looked at the clock on her bureau. The clock says it's 6:11 AM. Riko scooped little Sunbeam in her long arms despite them being covered by her cotton candy pink pajamas with white flowers on them. "Want to have some early morning fun with me?"

"Sure," Sunbeam muttered tearfully. Very silently, Riko and Sunbeam walked out of her bedroom, trotted down the stairs as quietly as they could manage, and ambled all the way into the den. Riko pulled the shades on one of the windows back, revealing the wide back yard behind it. Riko held little Sunbeam up to look out the window.

"Doesn't look like there's any deer out back," Riko muttered.

"What deer?"

"Sometimes we see deer walk across our back yard. I've kinda gotten into the habit of checking whenever I have the chance."

"I see. Back in Rozaniela, my sisters and I would see alicorns sometimes, and we'd sneak out of the house to look for them."

"What are alicorns?"

"They're unicorns with wings. Or pegasi with horns."

"Like in _My Little Pony_? Lucky. I wish I could meet a real alicorn."

Sunbeam told Riko all about the alicorns: their pristine, snow white fur, their beautifully flowing, rainbow colored manes and tails that sparkle in the morning sunlight, their beautiful, willowy, feathered white wings, their long, sharp, pearl-like horns that look like they can pierce right through a whole mountain, their sterling silver hooves, the graceful way they fly through the rainbow covered skies and walk in the flower fields when they want to eat, the way their whole bodies sparkle like stars during the full moon when near lakes, and the potency of their magic. Alicorns can do a lot more than Sunbeam and her sisters can, and they're said to be descended from the ancestors that created them. They can't shape shift, but when waving their long horns, they can create things with their magic, fix broken items, move things around, help people see into the future or the past, turn barren lands into a beautiful ocean of newborn flowers and wildlife (which basically means revive dead plants and flowers, allowing wildlife to re-inhabit the once barren area), and even shoot beams of light at their enemies when threatened. They're docile and timid creatures who prefer to avoid conflict, but they're not afraid to put their hooves down when needed, especially when their young are threatened. But if someone is unfailingly kind to them, they'll be best friends for life. They're also very exemplary parents who never abandon their young, even when something is wrong with them, like if their wings don't grow enough or they can't fly or can't do magic.

"Now I want to meet a real alicorn even more," Riko mused sweetly.

"If we ever want to visit Rozaniela some time, I'd love to take you," Sunbeam told her with a smile. But as soon as she finished, her bright smile was wiped off of her face, and she looked out the window with sad, watery sky blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" Riko asked with concern peppering her voice.

"Rozaniela...I wonder how everyone on there is doing. Mom and Dad...the Queen and King...our classmates and the creatures that live in the forests...I really want to go and see them and make sure they're all okay…" Sunbeam muttered sadly, her small voice trembling like she wanted to cry again. Riko could tell Sunbeam is getting homesick. She couldn't blame her.

"Why can't you go? Do you not know how?" Riko asked, both concerned and curious at the same time.

"We actually do. It's in a dimension different from this planet, but...lately we haven't been able to rip it open and just go there. We don't even have a way to communicate with them, like walkie talkies or cell phones. Well, we do have one way, but we can't make it connect to Rozaniela for some reason," Sunbeam explained sadly.

"A different dimension? Really?" Riko asked, her eyes wide from the new revelation. Alternate dimensions exist?

Sunbeam nodded. "Our ancestors chose to hide Rozaniela in another dimension so the people on Earth won't find us and think we're trying to hurt them. But we Rozanielans can go back and forth when we want to. We try to be quiet about it so we don't scare people or freak them out."

"I totally get it. There's lots of stories about aliens being written as monsters who eat people or dissect them. I don't think that's entirely true, but they're all science fiction stuff," Riko piped in. "I wonder if maybe you can't open the dimension because your friends on your planet are trying to get back on their feet."

"That's possible. Zenjin did a big number on it. I think a lot of people and creatures died," Sunbeam said, and then sighed grimly. "I miss Mom and Dad. I really hope they haven't...and the alicorns…"

Riko could tell what Sunbeam was worried about. Her heart went out to the orange fairy. Sunbeam is still a child, and yet she and her sisters have endured so much heartbreak and tragedy in a very short amount of time. They probably haven't had the time to really cope with what happened. First their home is decimated, then they're in a new planet that's completely different from their own for their own safety and to find the Pretty Cures, and then Sunbeam's heart gets cruelly and mercilessly stomped on, ripped to pieces, and left to be carried off by the wind by someone she wanted to help, who turns out to be the person who caused this entire mess in the first place. Worst of all, she doesn't even know if her parents and friends are alive or not, exacerbated by the fact that she and her sisters have absolutely no possible way of finding out. Perhaps there's more to Sunbeam's nightmares than she expected. It's understandable, really. If Riko had to go through all of that, she'd be so sad she want to hide somewhere forever. She had to wonder how Sunbeam is still able to go on after all that she and her sisters went through, especially since she's gone through the worst of it because of her failed attempts to befriend Zenjin. Riko wished she could reassure Sunbeam and tell her everything will be alright. But she doesn't know what happened to her parents. Nobody does, and she didn't want to tell her something and then find the outcome to turn out to be the opposite. Sunbeam's been through enough heartbreak. She didn't want to unknowingly cause any more of it.

"Riko-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Have you lived in Hikaribashi your whole life?"

'_What brought that on?'_ Riko thought. But she didn't want to be rude, so she simply answered Sunbeam's question. "No. I used to live somewhere else."

"Really?"

"Yep. Yokosuka. That's in the Kanagawa Prefecture, and that's somewhere in Tokyo. We moved here about a month ago."

"Do you miss it?"

"Honestly...no," Riko replied.

"Huh? But you've lived in Yokosuka your whole life! You really don't miss it at all?"

Riko isn't sure what brought that on either, but she continued on like usual. "No. I don't. I don't miss the schools, the people, I don't even miss my old house. This one is much bigger and nicer. Plus, there's too many bad memories over there. I'm much happier here than I ever was at Yokosuka. I have real, non-imaginary friends, for one thing. Kyo-chan, An-chan, Mari-chan, Hotaru-chan, Moonbeam, Starbeam, and even you, Sunbeam."

'_Wow. She's really honest, isn't she? Kinda like me. She's the first person I've ever met who's happy to be away from everything that was once familiar to her,'_ Sunbeam thought, awestruck by how Riko said all of that without sounding sad or hesitant. Normally when people are in a completely new environment, far away from everything they know and love, they tend to be homesick. Even the bravest of people who manage to adjust well get a little bit homesick. Riko hasn't shown any of that. But then again, Sunbeam and her sisters did all fall into Hikaribashi on their rather rough first day on Earth, so it's natural she'd assume Riko lived here her whole life.

But Riko said there were too many bad memories at Yokosuka. What did she mean by that? Did she go through lots of bad things? Upon further rumination, after Zenjin broke her heart, Riko told her that people were really mean to her just because she was different from them and didn't understand her, nor did they want to or care to. Sunbeam wanted to ask, but she found her head pulsating rather strongly, prompting her to put her questions in a box in the confines of her mind.

"I think I'll go back to bed now. I really like talking to you," Sunbeam said, scratching one of her ears with her stubby little hand.

"Thanks. I think Oniichan's gonna wake up soon, so that'd be a good idea," Riko replied sweetly as she scooped Sunbeam into her loving arms, ambled back into her room, and gently tucked Sunbeam back into bed like a mother does with her child.

* * *

"What's a supernova?" Moonbeam asked curiously as she read an excerpt from one of Hotaru's old, shabby, metal bound notebooks with lots of star drawings and scribbles dabbling them.

Hotaru sat on her bed, looking up at the plastic, glow in the dark stars of varying sizes and shapes dotting her whole entire room, glowing in a variety of colors, namely cotton candy pink, pale radiation green, sky blue, and mandarin orange. Moonbeam is on Hotaru's desk reading her notebook with a little blue flashlight while Hotaru, draped in pale yellow, long sleeved pajamas with white stars on them in varying sizes and shapes, is lying on her bed reading Edogawa Rampo's _The Fiend With Twenty Faces_(1). The pillow her raven haired head is lying on is midnight blue, with Saturn, Jupiter, and a myriad of little white stars keeping them company, and the comforter she's lying on is dark blue with a snow white crescent moon on it and lots of white stars dotting it.

"A supernova is when a very big star explodes. It happens when a star runs out of energy to make heat and light, so it collapses and then explodes. But there haven't been any supernovas in years. In fact, the last supernova to ever appear in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, happened in the year 1604, almost 500 years ago," Hotaru explained kindly albeit insouciantly, as she's too focused on whether the boy detective, Kobayashi Yoshio, will escape Twenty Faces' evil clutches.

"Are planets considered stars?" Moonbeam asked as Hotaru turned the page.

"No. Planets aren't stars. But the sun is a star. In fact, the sun is the only star that's close to Earth. All other stars are far away, so far that they only look like little sparkling dots," Hotaru said as she turned the page again, right as Yoshio decided to send his faithful pigeon friend out to get help.

"You really like stars, don't you?" Moonbeam asked as she looked through more of Hotaru's old notes. But then she instantly regretted asking since Hotaru's liking for stars is more obvious than Riko's autism. Hotaru has glow in the dark plastic stars glued to every single wall in her room. She has star themed bedding, she's wearing star themed pajamas, she has lots of hard to understand books on astronomy, stars, moons, planets, the universe, etc., one of her lamps has a star themed lamp shade, also blue, yellow, and white, and she even has a few multicolored plushies of the star shaped Lumas from Super Mario Galaxy.

"I do. I want to be an astronomer when I grow up. It's just so fascinating to study stars, how they're formed, how they die, and how people interpret them," Hotaru said, turning the page once more.

"Is that why you named your Pretty Cure form Cure Starlight?" Moonbeam asked as she looked through more of Hotaru's old notes, detailing nebulas this time.

"Yes. I was originally going to name myself Cure Constellation, but that sounded a bit too long. Plus, Starlight sounds more elegant, beautiful, and mysterious," Hotaru told her kindly as she put a _Fruits Basket_(2) themed bookmark in Twenty Faces, closed the book shut, and placed it next to her on her bed.

"I agree. It suits you much better," Moonbeam replied. "My parents named me and all of my sisters words with the word beam in it, because they want us all to be strong and radiant, like beams of light."

"That sounds nice," Hotaru said. But Moonbeam didn't say anything after that. The little pale purple bunny's long, straight ears suddenly drooped downward. Hotaru stood up from the bed and ambled over to the despondent little lilac colored bunny as she took a piece of her raven black hair out of her mouth. "What's the matter, Moonbeam?"

"Mom...Dad...Queen...I really hope they're okay...I miss them…" Moonbeam's voice trembled and her sterling silver eyes watered, like she wanted to cry. Hotaru's heart went out to the sad bunny. She couldn't blame her for being sad. From what they've heard, Zenjin destroyed their home, and they have no way of contacting anyone there to see if they're okay.

"I'm sure you do. But they say no news is good news, right?" Hotaru said, trying to reassure the little bunny, but in her heart, she could tell it sounded forced.

"I know. I want to believe they're still alive and well. The Queen wasn't dead when she sent us out to Earth to find you Pretty Cure, so...who knows. But...Sunbeam's been through the worst out of all of us," Moonbeam told her quietly, suppressing the urge to cry.

"It's because of Zenjin, isn't it?" Hotaru said, remembering that awful day when Zenjin cruelly told the already confused and frightened orange and yellow fairy how he really felt about her.

A tear trickled out of Moonbeam's left eye, but she made sure not to let it fall on Hotaru's notes. She didn't want to damage the notes she so lovingly and painstakingly scribbled into the slightly torn and worn notebook papers, with their half crumpled, half tattered edges. "Yes. Sunbeam used to be so cheerful and bright, like the sun. She always faced every situation with a smile and lots of vigor, no matter how hopeless it seemed. But...she truly believed she could help Zenjin and be his friend. No, more than that, she truly believed she really was friends with him. I...I know I'm a pacifist, and I don't like being angry at people or fighting, but Zenjin went way too far!" Moonbeam said softly at first, then grunted as she voiced her frustrations regarding that silver haired knave who ruined their beloved planet with his insatiable lust for power. "He should never have broke Sunbeam's heart like that! If he really hated Sunbeam from the start, he should have just said so instead of tricking her all these years, that way she wouldn't have taken it so hard! Granted, he never talked to her when they interacted, so nobody knew what he was thinking. And how can he be so ungrateful?! Our friends saved him and gave him everything he never got on Earth! Sunbeam did everything for him, and he had to nerve to say all those mean things to her! I honestly want to deck him! Sunbeam doesn't deserve to have her heart get stomped on like that! It's his fault that Sunbeam's done nothing but be sad, sad, sad! She hardly ever smiles anymore!" Moonbeam yelled as she stamped her stubby little purple foot on Hotaru's desk.

"I agree. I'm actually taking a psychology class in school right now, and...now that I think about it, how old was Zenjin when your friends rescued him?" Hotaru pondered out loud.

"He was ten, but he was so skinny and spindly and starved-looking and battered that he looked a lot younger," Moonbeam explained, wiping some tears away from her purple face. "Why?"

"My teacher recently explained that if a child gets abused at an early age and doesn't get rescued early enough in life, their brain growth becomes extremely stunted, and the damage to their psyche can be so strong, so profound, and so complete that the scars in their hearts and souls can never be healed, even if they eventually receive any kind of love and affection at all if they're rescued late enough," Hotaru explained.

Moonbeam's ears drooped again. "The Queen and everyone else mostly rescued babies from dirty and neglectful orphanages from third world countries from your world, as they were the easiest to rescue because nobody who had them would care if they got taken. Zenjin's the first kid the King and his disciples ever rescued who was both not a baby, not an orphan, and from an abusive home where that evil woman would actually notice he was gone. Maybe...if they had saved him early enough...or maybe if they had noticed early enough...none of this would have happened. Zenjin wouldn't have turned evil, and Sunbeam wouldn't be so sad and heartbroken…" Moonbeam explained despondently.

"It's not like you knew any of this was coming, so don't blame yourself, little one," Hotaru told her gently as she stroke one of Moonbeam's long, soft, plum purple ears.

"I know. But it just breaks my heart to see Sunbeam so sad all the time now, and I really really want to know if Mom and Dad are safe. I'm dying to know if they are or not!" Moonbeam replied, her sterling silver eyes weary with both early wakefulness and worry. "Speaking of parents...I hope you don't find me asking this rude, but how come you have two dads?"

Hotaru wasted no time answering. "I get asked that a lot, but to be honest, I don't really know why. That's just how it's always been," Hotaru replied with a smile, unoffended by Moonbeam's innocent and well-intentioned question.

"But don't you have a mom? Everyone has a mom. Men can't give birth like women can. Were you adopted?" Moonbeam asked.

Now that Moonbeam brought it up, Hotaru began ruminating. Is she adopted or not? She's been raised by her two homosexual fathers her whole life, and although she used to be angry at the thought of not having a mother like the other kids, just like Hanae was with having two moms and not a dad after getting picked on a lot, she never asked about who her mother was. Sojiro and Kyouichi love her very much, and to Hotaru, that was all that mattered. Granted, Hotaru never forgot about the times when kids would jeer at her, throw paper balls at her, intentionally exclude her from games because they thought she was gay and that being gay was gross, call her names she didn't dare repeat, throw eggs at her house, all of those things when she was young. There was one time a group of kids spray painted their house and put rotten egg yolk in their mailbox. Kyouichi showed them no mercy. He called the police on them and got them arrested, as tampering with mail is considered a federal offense, though Hotaru to this day doesn't understand why. But Moonbeam does beg a good question.

If Hotaru does have a mother, where is she?

"I'm afraid I don't know," Hotaru replied. "But I'll ask one of my dads sometime today."

"Sorry. Did I ask something bad?" Moonbeam asked, starting to regret asking Hotaru about her parental lineage.

"Oh no, not at all. I'm glad you asked. I never did ask about who my mother was, so when I get home today, I'll ask Dad or Kyouichi today."

"I see."

"What do your parents do?"

"Huh?"

"Do they have jobs on your planet?"

"Oh, yes! My dad, Hornbeam, is a doctor and he's always going around helping people and fairies and aliens alike. He makes his own medicine out of tree leaves and plants, too. In fact, he's our king's family doctor, and usually gets called in whenever he gets sick or when babies that we saved need immediate medical attention. My mom, Crossbeam, is an architect. She makes plans for new buildings and oversees their construction. Knowing Dad, he might be running around helping people and saving them with his medical skills, and Mom might be designing new buildings to make now that the other ones are destroyed. I really hope that's what they're doing…"

"Well, for now, let's stay positive. If you're sad all the time, your judgment gets clouded."

"Okay. But...Sunbeam's been sad all the time now. I think I'll go check on her later."

"I think she'd like that."

When the sun finally began to peek over the horizon and wake the world up, Moonbeam decided to go ask Starbeam and Lovebeam if they wanted to hang out at Riko's house and check on Sunbeam. While Lovebeam certainly wasn't happy to be awoken from her beauty sleep, she petulantly agreed and went with them, even though it took her a while to rub the sleep out of her lavender eyes.

"Exactly what happened to Sunbeam while I was gone anyway?" Lovebeam grumbled as she continued to rub her eyes while following Starbeam.

"Oh! We haven't told you, have we?" Starbeam exclaimed upon realizing that neither she nor Moonbeam have told Lovebeam about what happened between Sunbeam and Zenjin. Granted, Lovebeam was still wandering around lost at that time, and they haven't been able to find her then, so perhaps it was to be expected. They told Lovebeam everything as they flew through the neighborhood, getting closer to Riko's house and the scenery around them began to brighten.

"Oh! We have arrived," Starbeam said once they finished relaying the story to her. Moonbeam, Starbeam, and Lovebeam floated up to a window that led to Riko's room, opened it (it was unlocked), and flew right in. It didn't take too long for them to find Sunbeam lying in Riko's bed, covered with what appears to be a white baby blanket.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" Moonbeam chirped cheerfully, hoping to perk her up a bit. But they stopped when they noticed something odd. Sunbeam's face is unusually flushed and a splotchy red color. Some sweat trickled down her face and into the pillow her orange and yellow head is lying on. Her breathing, while subdued, is rather hoarse and labored. Starbeam descended next to her and put a hand on her forehead. She's hot as a roasted marshmallow.

"Oh my! You have a fever!" Starbeam yelped.

"She's sick?" Lovebeam asked, confused.

"Wow. I sure am glad I suggested we visit her today!" Moonbeam piped in, immediately worried sick for her ill sister. It's here that Riko came back into the room, dressed in a pale purple shirt underneath a sleeveless white hoodie with a purple cat sewn on the big pocket on the abdomen, long brown pants, and white sneakers. In her hand is a white bottle cap with water in it. Moonbeam could see from Riko's forlorn, contorted face that she's also sick with worry.

"Oh. Hi girls," Riko said as she ambled over to Sunbeam. "Sunbeam. I have some more water. You have to drink some."

Wearily, Sunbeam opened her sky blue eyes-which are completely lacking in her usual sparkle and cheeriness-sat up, took the white bottle cap, and gulped down all the water in one go. She put it back down and snuggled back underneath Riko's baby blanket.

"How long has she been like this?" Starbeam asked Riko with concern.

"Just for the past fifteen minutes. All I've managed to do is give her lots of water," Riko said as she looked at her clock, which read 7:18 AM. "I want to stay and take care of her, but I have to go to school today, and I'd much rather not go!" Kosaka Yuji and Inoue Yoshie came to her mind. She really didn't want to put up with them and lots of boring lessons today. At least taking care of Sunbeam, sick as she is, would be far more pleasant than dealing with Kosaka and Inoue.

"It's okay, Riko-chan. We can stay and take care of her while you're away," Lovebeam told her in a soft, kind voice, which flummoxed Riko a bit. She's never heard Lovebeam talk in that kind of tone before, and she actually isn't complaining or acting like a brat today. Perhaps she knows this isn't the time to be complaining and acting like a brat.

"It was my idea to have us all come visit, and I sure am glad I suggested it," Moonbeam piped in.

"Thanks, little ones. I really appreciate this. Really, I'd much rather stay here than go to school," Riko told them gratefully.

"Our first priority is to bring Sunbeam's fever down, but I'm afraid there isn't a cloth around here that is of a reasonable size we can put on her forehead," Starbeam explained worriedly.

"Oh! I have something that's just the right size!" Riko exclaimed, her eyes wide and bright, as she ran to her bureau, grabbed something out of the box she keeps her video games in, and showed it to the fairies. It's a tiny little black cloth with the word _Nintendo DS_ written on it in white.

"What's this?"

"It's the microfiber cloth used to clean my Nintendo DS! Be right back!" Riko explained before dashing into the bathroom, turning on the faucet, and letting the water soak the microfiber cloth. Once it was wet enough, she turned off the faucet, folded the microfiber cloth into a rectangle shape, ambled back into the bedroom, and very gently placed it on Sunbeam's fiery head. "There!"

"That solves one problem. Thanks," Moonbeam told her gratefully.

"You're welcome," Riko replied sheepishly.

"I...I'm...fine…" Riko and the fairies turned around when they heard a mumbling noise, which came right out of Sunbeam's mouth. Her dull, sky blue eyes are wide open, facing Riko's ceiling.

"You're awake, Sunbeam!" Moonbeam chirped happily.

"I'm fine. You don't need to...fawn over me…" Sunbeam mumbled as she tried to sit up, but the minute she did, she erupted into a harsh coughing fit. Riko's soaking wet microfiber cloth fell off of Sunbeam's forehead the minute she started to cough. Starbeam gingerly pushed Sunbeam back underneath Riko's baby blanket.

"You mustn't strain yourself. It seems you have contracted a rather nasty cold. We'll take care of you, Sunbeam. You need to rest and reaccumulate your strength. It won't do you any good to start moving around," Starbeam told her.

"You're not my nurse…" Sunbeam grunted but obeyed Starbeam's orders.

"I do think I have an idea of why Sunbeam's so sick," Starbeam said.

"Really? It isn't just some cold that comes out of nowhere?" Riko asked.

"It looks like it, but there's evidence that Sunbeam is sick because of a fierce combination of both stress and culture shock," Starbeam explained.

"Stress? Culture shock?" Riko asked, tilting her head.

"Riko! Breakfast is ready!" Arinao called out from downstairs.

"Coming!" Riko called back. She then turned to the fairies. "You have to stay in my room when my parents are here. There's lots of water down in the kitchen, and you can use the white bottle cap to give Sunbeam whatever water she needs. If you need to re-soak the cloth, use the bathroom sink up here to save you a trip. There's a bunch of little microwavable soups down in the kitchen in the long cupboards. The instructions are on the cup, but I haven't cooked them myself. Understand?"

"Okie dokie loki!" Lovebeam chirped while doing a sailor salute.

"Please rest assured, Riko-chan. We'll do whatever we can to rejuvenate Sunbeam's health. You'd best be off to school," Starbeam told her reassuringly. Riko waved to the fairies and dashed out the door.

When Riko got to school, she didn't waste any time tracking down Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina to tell them about what happened to Sunbeam.

"She's sick? Really?" Marina asked, confused, twirling one of the curls in her wild orange hair with her fingers.

"Yeah. Starbeam says Sunbeam's under a lot of stress, which might have caused her to get sick," Riko told her.

"Considering what we saw back then, I'm not surprised," Anzu said. The memory of Sunbeam getting her heart hacked to pieces by Zenjin was strong in her mind. "If I can get sick to the point of vomiting three times a month because of my parents' divorce, then it's not too uncommon to see people get sick from other stuff, like worrying about a test or moving to a new country or being abused or stuff like that."

Riko looked down at her sneakers, her dark emerald eyes donning a sad gleam. "I wish I could stay home and look after her. I'm sure her sisters will definitely take good care of her. That I don't doubt. But I really don't want to put up with Inoue and Kosaka today."

"I feel you," Kyoya piped in. "Wait, what happened to Sunbeam?"

"Oh! We didn't tell you, did we?" Riko yelped upon the revelation hitting her like a wrecking ball. She wasted no time telling him about what happened between Zenjin and Sunbeam.

"Jeez. Talk about hitting a girl where it hurts, especially after all that. I can kinda relate to her," Kyoya replied after the story of Sunbeam's woe was told to him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Riko asked. Marina rolled her eyes and continued to twirl a curl in her hair with her fingers.

"Before the accident, I had a pretty decent circle of friends. But when I came back to school, they ditched me because they decided hanging out with a cripple kid would cramp their style," Kyoya told her like it was the most casual thing in the world.

"That's awful!" Riko exclaimed. "Who are these people?! Tell me their names so I can lecture them on how they shouldn't have judged you and abandoned you just because you happen to be in a wheelchair!"

As Kyoya and the girls went on about their conversation, they were oblivious to the fact that Fukiko is watching them yet again. She's wearing her usual green scrunchie, a medium length orange skirt, a white top underneath a dark blue jean jacket with rolled up sleeves going up to her elbows, black knee high socks, and purple and white shoes with some glitter on them sparkling underneath the sun's golden effulgence. Slung on her back is an emerald green backpack with her name on it in glitter and some fake pink and purple flowers pinned to it. Gripping one of her backpack straps tightly, she was about to walk toward them until someone called out to her.

"Hey, Fu-chan!" A girl's voice prompted Fukiko to stop and turn around to find a girl with short, chin-length, raven black hair behind her, along with two other girls, a plump and slightly overweight one with square-shaped glasses and curly black hair, and another one with shorter black hair in a flouncy ponytail with a yellow star hair clip in it.

"Hi, Ryoko-chan. What's up?" Fukiko asked her friend, Ryoko.

"I'm having a sleepover this weekend! Kazumi and Manaka here are gonna come," Ryoko exclaimed cheerfully, referring to the plump girl as Kazumi and the ponytail girl as Manaka. "I'd love it if you could come! We're gonna watch my new DVD of High School Musical! I just ADORE Zac Efron! And we're gonna play some Dance Dance Revolution and my brand new air hockey table!"

Fukiko sweatdropped a bit. "I'd love to go, but I can't. My grandparents are gonna visit."

"Awww, that's so not fair!" Kazumi complained.

"I know, right?" Manaka piped in.

"I see. That's okay. You can come next time. By the way, were you just about to hang out with the Loser League?" Ryoko asked.

"Loser League?" Fukiko asked, confused as to who they're talking about.

"Them! Scarface, Goth Girl, Four Eyed Cripple and the big retard baby!" Ryoko shouted, unabashedly pointing her finger at the oblivious Riko, Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina.

"It's not nice to call people names, Ryoko-chan," Fukiko said, finding their insistence on calling them degrading nicknames rather unsettling and rude.

"But you know it's true!" Ryoko retorted. "You're better off staying as far away from them as possible. They'll just make you look weird."

"How do you know?" Fukiko asked, but Kazumi and Manaka were talking out loud, not letting Ryoko talk.

"Tasogare's so weird. She's always crying in class and making weird noises and reading those baby books. I always hear her talk to them and she goes on and on about those baby cartoons! She should seriously grow up!" Kazumi told Manaka.

"True that. Plus I really don't get why she'd want to hang out with Scarface and Goth Girl. Scarface is a criminal's kid, and Goth Girl creeps me out. She dresses in black all the time!" Manaka replied. "And you know Scarface flips out at pretty much everyone for no reason."

"It runs in her family."

"I don't see anything wrong with wearing black a lot, and just because someone's related to a criminal doesn't mean they'll become one," Fukiko piped in, giving them some disappointed looks. But Kazumi and Manaka completely ignored her and kept on palavering.

"How do you know?" Ryoko asked, crossing her plump arms.

"You know the band Blue Moon, right? The one everybody says is making an epic comeback? Their lead singer had a dad who went around killing people a lot. She didn't become a criminal, now did she?" Fukiko replied as calmly as she could muster. Ryoko was so stumped by Fukiko's response that she couldn't come up with a counterargument.

"Since Tasogare acts like a baby so much, Big Baby sounds like a good name for her," Kazumi piped in.

"Yeah. I wonder if people like her still wear diapers?" Manaka asked with a chuckle.

"Eww! That's so gross! But it sounds pretty likely!" Kazumi laughed with a snort coming out of her mouth, which made the girls laugh even more.

"I'm glad you're friends with us and not those losers," Ryoko said as she tried to give Fukiko a pat on the back, but the long haired girl evaded it and proceeded to walk away, disgusted by how maliciously Kazumi and Manaka are gossiping about the quartet.

'_I can't believe I chose them over Kyoya. I really am stupid. Tasogare doesn't talk bad about people, and she's best friends with Chino and Asagi, and she doesn't care that Kyoya's in a wheelchair,'_ Fukiko thought somberly to herself, with regret poking at her heart like a kid trying to wake up a dead animal with a stick. Fukiko watched Riko, Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina for a long time, and she was understandably surprised by how happy they always are during classes. They're always chatting, laughing, sometimes squabbling, talking about their interests, doing things together, not caring about their eccentricities and deficiencies, etc. They really look like the best of friends, even though they're so different from each other. They're never mean to each other, and never pick on each other for their personalities, deficiencies, and straying away from the norm. In fact, they seem to be happy that they're not conforming to the popular opinion, and they certainly don't seem to be bothered by Kyoya's being in a wheelchair, like they don't even notice it. It's like he's not even in a wheelchair at all.

Fukiko wondered if she could ever have a circle of friends like that, instead of hanging around with the gossipy Ryoko, Kazumi, and Manaka. She gripped one of her backpack straps tightly again.

When the school bell finally rang, classes began, and everyone scrambled into the Hikaribashi Middle School building. Riko kept on worrying about Sunbeam's welfare, but she knew better than to let it completely consume her, especially when there are lessons to be done, so she made sure to pay attention and take as much notes as possible. However, as the day went by, Riko began hearing things she really didn't want to during lunch period, even among the normal pandemonium. Yuji and some of his lackeys are making fake "Goo-goo" noises.

"Goo-goo," Yuji crooned in a condescending way. "Goo-goo! See Big Baby laugh!" He sounded like he was reading a book directed at kindergarteners.

"See Big Baby eat!" Yoshie piped in.

"Big Baby only eats mushy-gushy food because she can't eat big kid food yet!" Another one of Yuji's male friends piped in condescendingly.

"Big Baby only reads baby books!" Although she didn't say anything in response, Riko cringed when one of Yuji's friends said that. The memory of Yuji taking her Comet In Moominland book out of her hands at recess flashed through her mind. He must have told his lackeys about it as a reason to make fun of her. But why make such a big deal out of it? It's just a book, and the Moomin books aren't written for babies considering it's articulate writing style and slightly philosophical content, especially in the later books.

"Will you shut up over there?!" Anzu shouted after she finished her leather fruit strip. Riko tried not to pay any attention. She just kept on eating her chocolate pudding. Soon, she felt a light but slightly hard and spiky tap on her head. She looked down to find a crumpled up paper ball. Before she could open it, Kyoya grabbed it and opened it for her, his bespectacled face contorting with disgust upon reading the contents.

_Big Baby Tasogare better change her diapers! She's stinking up the whole school! Just like Scarface, Goth Girl, and Four Eyed Cripple!_

"Idiots," Kyoya grumbled as he threw the paper ball back at Yuji and his miniboss squad. He then turned to Riko, who insouciantly started to eat her chocolate chip cookies. "You're not a baby. They're the babies around here."

"Now you see why I wanted to stay home and take care of Sunbeam," Riko piped in after sighing.

Riko couldn't wait for school to let out. _'I wonder how the fairies are doing? I hope Sunbeam's getting better,'_ Riko thought as she ate the rest of her cookies and pulled out a volume of the _Card Captor Sakura manga_.

* * *

Back at the Tasogare house, Lovebeam is alone in Riko's room with Sunbeam, slowly dipping Riko's black microfiber cloth into a small plastic cup of water that Moonbeam made an hour ago. Once it was wet enough, Lovebeam folded it neatly into a rectangular shape and put it back onto Sunbeam's forehead. Sunbeam's dull, sky blue eyes stared up at Riko's ceiling, right at the flower shaped bulb covers surrounding the light bulbs which are turned off at the moment.

"Hey Lovebeam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think the alicorns are okay? On Rozaniela?"

Lovebeam looked down at Riko's blanket with a despondent look. "I don't know. But the Queen says they're strong, so I don't think they'll go down easily."

"Yeah. You're right. They can be pretty fierce when threatened. I remember that one time you accidentally kicked dirt into one alicorn foal's eyes and it's mother tried to zap you with thunderbolts," Sunbeam chuckled upon telling that story.

"Don't remind me! That winged unicorn almost turned me into charred ribs!" Lovebeam pouted, crossing her little arms, feeling her face heat. "I didn't mean to kick sand into her kid's eyes! But yeah, that was pretty stupid of me, though."

Sunbeam giggled again, a sweet smile tickling her plump, burning face, but her giggling was pushed away by another coughing fit. "Ugh!"

"You okay?"

"I hate being sick."

"We all do. I wish Dad were here. He'd probably do a much better job at taking care of you than we can."

"Yeah, but I don't mind. You're doing just fine."

Soon, silence fell between them until Sunbeam spoke again. Lovebeam could see Sunbeam's dull blue eyes watering a bit. She couldn't tell if Sunbeam wanted to cry or if her coughing fit is making her eyes itch. "I'm so stupid."

"How so?"

"I was a fool to think...I could be friends with Zenjin. I...I really thought I could make him happy. But he never liked me at all. Maybe...if I had never talked to him, things might have turned out differently," Sunbeam murmured sadly, some tears managing to trickle out of her blue eyes and trail down her plump little orange cheeks.

"It's not your fault, Sunbeam. You didn't know. Nobody can tell what he's thinking. He spoke so little back then, so it's not surprising nobody could tell what he was thinking. Besides, it's not like you can read minds or anything," Lovebeam told her reassuringly.

"I know. But...if he really hated me from the start, he should have just said so...instead of being silent the whole time and playing me for a fool."

"You're not a fool. He's the fool around here. He should never have been so mean to you! If I had been there when he said those things to you, I'd have kicked his sorry butt!"

"Yeah, especially since you never trusted him from the beginning. Sorry I didn't listen to you."

"That's okay. I didn't really expect anyone to listen anyway. Plus, I didn't want to hurt your feelings since you wanted to be his friend and all. But ugh! I want to sock him so hard in the mouth it'd wake up his dentist!"

"He's kinda been socked in the mouth his whole life, considering what Mom, Dad, the Queen, and King know about him."

"Good point."

It's at this point that Sunbeam began to notice something very odd. For once, Lovebeam ISN'T acting like a complete spoiled brat. Usually all she's done is complain, whine, yell, be demanding, and scream at anything and everything. She actually isn't acting like a kid. She's actually acting like a good big sister, especially since she's technically the oldest. Not only that, Lovebeam's been spending the past few hours solely with Sunbeam, taking care of her. Nothing else. Not once did she complain, whine, yell, scream, be demanding, or leave everyone else to do everything and go off doing whatever she wanted to do. Lovebeam's been giving her water, soaking the black microfiber cloth and putting it on her head whenever it dried every so often, and pretty much stayed by her side for the entire morning.

In the downstairs kitchen, Moonbeam and Starbeam just finished taking a metal thing off of a bowl of microwavable soup and the two of them put the green cap on it before putting it in the microwave with the greatest amount of care possible. They didn't want to spill any of its contents. Moonbeam set the microwave to one minute and watched as the bowl of soup spun around in the black box. But Starbeam found herself walking down memory lane as she watched the bowl of soup spin around in the confines of the big black microwave.

(flashback)

_Books, books, books. And what's this? Oh, look! More books! Large and small, thin and thick, all medical books with very complicated titles, like _Medical Physiology, Clinical Anatomy, Clinical Neuroanatomy, Medical and Health Care, The Brain Atlas, Herbal Remedies, Nutritional Healing_, etc. That's all that Starbeam saw the minute she opened the door to her father's dimly lit study. Books, both closed and opened, towered all around the study, some scattered on the floor with their pages lying right on the wild shag carpet rug. Sitting on top of a small wooden desk is a fairy like herself, but slightly bigger, with pale green fur like limes, with a single mahogany stripe on both of its long, pointed ears, along with mahogany colored donut-shaped things wrapped around part of his ears a little below the points. The green fairy is wearing a teal colored neck tie with a white stripe at a right angle and a black top hat with a yellow stripe wrapped around it. Starbeam very quietly floated toward the desk and saw that the green fairy has a white bowl in front of him, with a white primitive masher that's being used to crush what appears to be dark green leaves._

"_Are you making medicine, Father?" Starbeam asked as she sat on the other side of the bowl as her father continued to mash the leaves with the masher._

"_Hello there, Starbeam. Yes, I am. Decebal says Zenjin's sick from culture shock, and I've got the perfect remedy for it right here. I just need to crush it some more and mix it with some cold water," Starbeam's father said without stopping what he's doing._

"_Humans can get sick from coming to a new planet?" Starbeam asked, curious, tilting her head to one side slightly._

"_Some of them, yes. Zenjin's going through the worst part of the second stage of culture shock, called the _'Negotiation Stage,'_ as the humans call it," Starbeam's father explained. "Decebal says the kid is throwing tantrums, breaking things, and is angry all the time, refusing food and not taking proper care of himself. It's hard for a child his age and background to suddenly have to adapt to being in a completely new place far away from everything he knows, especially since he's the first fully grown kid we've saved in decades. Now he's got a fever and needs this medicine. This is called the Relaxation Plant. This is often used for people who've pushed themselves too hard to the point where their bodies are exhausted and still constantly anxious to do more, like the kid. This helps lessen the tension in their muscles and relieves the stress on their bodies."_

"_You certainly have an infinite amount of knowledge swirling around in that cranium of yours. How come you're able to house it and not forget any of it?" Starbeam asked with a smile, impressed._

"_I don't know. That's just how it's always been for me. Plus, to be a doctor, there's a lot you have to keep in your head. It's not easy, but the more knowledge you have, the better you'll be able to identify certain things and solve problems during a crisis. There! Can you get me a bottle of cold water please?" Starbeam's father explained as he finished mashing the green leaves._

"_Yes, Father!" Starbeam chirped excitedly and floated to the very pristine and well kept kitchen to grab a very small bottle of water-smaller than the smallest bottles of water people from the human world make. When Starbeam got it and undid the cap, she floated back to her father's study. The green fairy with the top hat smiled as Starbeam handed him the bottle._

"_Thanks so much, Starry. You're a big help," The green fairy told his faithful daughter gratefully and gave her a good hug before pouring some water into the bowl. Soon, the water turned a rather unsightly green color._

"_My, it doesn't look very delicious," Starbeam said as she watched the water morph into the ghastly green color._

"_It may look horrible, but it actually tastes pretty good, like fresh grapes. It's complete!" Starbeam's father said as he went into a drawer in his desk to pull out a very small, wooden thermos. Starbeam took the thermos and opened it while her father slowly poured the handmade medicine into it. "Thanks, Starbeam. Here's some leaves for you," Her father said as he grabbed some extra leaves and handed them to a confused Starbeam._

"_Why these?" Starbeam asked curiously._

"_There may come a time when these may come in handy, and as you just saw, the medicine is very easy to make, so I don't see anything wrong with carrying these around. The little clip on your bow is a good place for them since they're made for carrying stuff without dragging around, y'know?" Starbeam's father explained sheepishly, his green cheeks donning a sweet rouge color. Starbeam smiled and took the leaves. They glowed in a blue light and it retreated into the yellow star clip on her pale green bow._

"_Thank you very much, Father," Starbeam told him gratefully._

"_Hornbeam! Get your nose out of those dusty old books!" A young woman's voice called out from the other room._

"_I'll be out in just a second, Crossbeam!" Starbeam's father, Hornbeam, called out. With smiles on both of their faces, father and daughter floated out of the book filled room to see what was up._

(end flashback)

Once the soup was ready, Starbeam and Moonbeam both carried it upstairs as slowly as they could, taking great care not to spill it or anything. Once they put it on Riko's glass computer desk, Moonbeam flew back into the kitchen to grab a wad of paper towels and a few spoons, the paper towels for spills. It's here that Starbeam flew back into the kitchen to find a small glass bowl and a wooden masher that was in one of the drawers next to the stove. She flew into the basement and pulled the leaves Hornbeam gave her out of the star shaped clip on her ribbon. She put the leaves in the glass bowl and began mashing them with the wooden masher. If her memory served her right, she needed to mash the leaves into powder and then pour a small dose of cold water to make the crushed leaves mix with it to turn the water green.

Starbeam mashed and mashed the leaves as much as she could muster, hoping she's doing it right. Hornbeam didn't give her lessons on how to do it, nor did he specify how long it needed to take, but she watched him that one time, and he seemed to have no trouble, so she had to take a chance. If she didn't, how can she learn from it later on? Finally, the grinded leaves looked good enough to mix with water. Starbeam took the bowl and floated into the kitchen, put the bowl in the empty sink, turned on the faucet, and let the small trickle of water build into the bowl. Already she could see the water turning green upon contact. She turned off the faucet, pulled out a glass spoon, and stirred it slightly in case stirring was needed. She grabbed another white bottle cap that was laying on the counter, dipped it in the medicine, and floated back to Riko's room, where Sunbeam, Moonbeam, and Starbeam are sitting on the wooden floor, all eating soup with their own spoons.

"Sunbeam. I made some medicine for you," Starbeam said as she showed Sunbeam the bottle cap full of green liquid.

"Ew. Looks gross," Sunbeam said, her face contorting with slight disgust at the ghastly color of the liquid.

"It looks gross, but it actually tastes good. Try it," Starbeam inquired gently.

"Oh well. Guess I must," Sunbeam reluctantly took the bottle cap and gulped down the liquid. Surprisingly, it doesn't taste bitter or gross at all. "Hey! It tastes like grapes!"

"Father made that medicine. He says it's good for rejuvenating people's energy, especially for people who are undergoing culture shock or collapsing from exhaustion," Starbeam told her, happy that the medicine came out good.

"It's a good thing he gave you those leaves," Moonbeam piped in as she ate a small carrot.

"Anyone want to play Go Fish after this? There's still a few more hours before Riko comes home," Lovebeam asked.

"Sure. That game doesn't require any arduous effort nor does it exhaust a substantial amount of bodily energy, so I suppose it's alright for Sunbeam to play," Starbeam said.

"There she goes with her big words again," Sunbeam snarked, making Lovebeam chuckle a bit.

"We'll just play one game, okay? I don't want you getting sick again," Moonbeam piped in.

"It's alright. I'm feeling a lot better now than I was this morning thanks to you girls," Sunbeam retorted with a smile, even though she had to admit Moonbeam did have a good point. But it's true that she feels much better now than this morning, when she was wheezing, coughing, and couldn't get out of bed. Her throat feels a lot less scratchy, her body doesn't feel tighter than a bunch of ropes being pulled to their limit, and her head isn't pulsating as much. She still did wish Riko was here, though.

* * *

The school day seemed to drag on forever. Finally, recess came around, and the kids were all free to talk and play and do whatever they pleased. Unfortunately, recess also provides ample opportunity for some malice and treachery.

"Stop! Let me go!" Fukiko yelled as one of Yuji's lackeys grabbed her by the arm.

"Tie her arms back, Shimura!" Yuji yelled to the boy struggling to keep her arms behind her. Fukiko struggled and kicked and squirmed like a worm, but nothing she did worked against Shimura and the other boy, who decided to help out.

"Let's see what's under dat skirt of yers!" Yuji exclaimed as he stomped over to the still squirming Fukiko, who went pale with fear. He wants to yank her skirt up! She screamed and struggled even more, then proceeding to stomp on the other boy's foot. He grimaced, but he didn't dare yelp with pain. Once Yuji got close, though…

"Leave her alone!" Out of nowhere, Riko gave him a light shove and pushed him away from Fukiko. Not enough to make him fall on his rear end, but definitely enough to make him step back. Riko then pushed the other boys off of Fukiko, yanking their arms off of her, setting her free from their grubby clutches. "You're horrible, y'know that?!"

"Hey look! It's retard baby to the rescue! Can't you go back to yer widdle nursery alweady?" Yuji taunted condescendingly, making some snorty noises.

"I smell poop! It's gotta be comin' from yer stinky diapers, Big Baby!" Shimada exclaimed.

"Hey! How 'bout we pants her and see if she's got a poopy diaper on?" The other boy shouted with a snort. But before they could do anything, they turned to look and found an empty space of air. Riko and Fukiko left the minute they started talking! Their jaws hung open, flabbergasted by their absence, but Yuji's chubby face turned beet red with anger upon realization of why they left so suddenly.

Tightly gripping Fukiko's wrist, Riko dragged her to the bleachers where a male teacher was standing, keeping watch over some students who sat there. "Amane-sensei!"

"Tasogare? Dounowaki? What's wrong?" The male teacher, Amane-sensei, aka Riko's science teacher, asked, flummoxed by their presence and how pale faced they looked.

"Kosaka, Shimura, and Fujimaki were picking on Fukiko and tried to pull up her skirt! I saw them!" Riko exclaimed.

"Pull up her skirt?!" Mr. Amane yelped, shocked. "Ugh! Those boys. Thanks for telling me, girls. I'll deal with them," He said with a facepalm as he left the bleachers to go give those rowdy, perverted boys a good scolding.

"Thanks for helping me, Tasogare-san," Fukiko told her with a sigh of relief as Riko let go of her wrist.

"You're welcome. They're so stupid. Don't they know it's gross, rude, and inappropriate to pull up a girl's skirt? They should be in jail!" Riko exclaimed rather bluntly.

"I agree. Kosaka's always trying to pull up every skirt he sees, me included," Fukiko said.

"That's not nice," Riko said. "Umm...this may be rude of me to ask, but...you used to be friends with Kyoya, right?"

"Uh…" Fukiko found herself speechless, not just because of Riko's question, but the fact that she asked it like it was the most casual question in the world. "Yeah, I used to."

"How come you're not friends anymore?"

"Well…" Fukiko found this to be the moment of truth. Riko seemed nice. She did save her from Yuji and his friends, so perhaps she might want to listen. "We were best friends once. But...after the accident, I…" Her voice began to tremble, like she wanted to cry. "I...I haven't been very nice to him."

"How so?"

"I've been a terrible friend. All I've done in the past year is ignore him and hang out with the popular girls. See that boy over there?" Fukiko pointed to a kid hanging out with his friends. "He's Funaki Daizo. He and Kyoya used to be best buds. But when Kyoya came back, Daizo completely ditched him because of his being in a wheelchair. He's convinced he's nothing but a cripple who'll ruin his reputation…" This is when the tears started to flow. "...and...and...I went along with him."

"Is being in a wheelchair really that big of a deal?" Riko asked casually. Fukiko became dumbfounded. Riko's still asking personal questions like it's the most casual thing in the world? "I mean, he was in an accident. It doesn't mean he's any different from when his legs were okay, and not all people in wheelchairs have brain damage. Kyo-chan's brain is working fine. He can still talk and crack jokes and do stuff other kids can."

Fukiko froze. She had a good point. A really good point. Memories began coming back to her mind. Kyoya presenting a project for school, talking about floods and the effects they have on both people, crops, and towns. Kyoya hanging out with Riko, Anzu, and Marina, happily chatting and cracking jokes. Even before that, Kyoya sticking up for himself when Marina slapped him alongside the head or tried to land some punches on him. Kyoya back talking Yuji when he called him a cripple and managed to completely turn the tables on him when things almost got ugly. _'She's right. She's so right. What have I been thinking all this time?!'_ Fukiko thought sadly until another memory came back to her.

(flashback)

"_I'm home," Fukiko walked into her house one day, looking and feeling dead tired until she looked up and found both of her parents standing in the living room, with their arms crossed, donning stern faces. Fukiko put her green backpack down, but continued to stand where she was._

"_Uhh...why do you two look so mad?" Fukiko asked, flummoxed by how austere they look. A lurching feeling in her gut told her it wasn't going to be pretty, and she was going to have to fess up about something. It's too late to run away from it now._

"_Fukiko. We need to talk," Fukiko's mother, a woman with chin length brown hair told her calmly and lucidly, but sternly._

"_Did I do something wrong?" Fukiko asked._

"_Kyoya's mother called. She says you, Daizo, and the others stopped hanging out with him and now completely shun him from everything like he has some kind of disease...and apparently this all started after he came back to school. Care to explain yourself, Fukiko?" Fukiko's father, a small, lanky man with black hair and square shaped glasses asked sternly but calmly._

_Fukiko froze even further. They know! They know that she doesn't like Kyoya anymore! But what could she say to them? They're going to get mad at her no matter what she says, especially since Kayoko told them about what's been going on over the phone. How does Kayoko even know, anyway? Did Kyoya tell her? That's probably the most likely case._

"_Fukiko. Be honest with us. Do you not like Kyoya-kun anymore because he's in a wheelchair?" Her father asked calmly, sounding less strict this time._

_Fukiko gripped her skirt and bit her lip. But her silence pretty much gave her mother the answer she needed. "Fukiko! I thought I raised you better than this!"_

"_But Mom! He's different now!" Fukiko finally snapped, unable to remain silent anymore. "He used to be cool! Now he's all crippled!"_

"_Dounowaki Fukiko! Don't ever use that vulgar language in front of me!" Fukiko's mother shouted, wagging her finger at her frightened daughter, her small eyes looking like they want to pop right out of her face. Fukiko took a few steps back frightfully. Who knew her mother could be so angry?_

"_Honey, please. Calm down," Fukiko's father placed a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder, managing to pacify her and keep her from doing anything crazy. Reluctantly, Fukiko's mother calmed down. He then turned to face Fukiko. "Fukiko. Kyoya's your friend, isn't he? True friends don't abandon each other, especially when a friend's been in an accident and has to use a wheelchair for a while. Just because he's in one doesn't mean he's sick or brain damaged. Why is that a reason to not be his friend anymore?"_

"_I...I…" Fukiko was speechless. She couldn't get any words to come out. She couldn't contradict them._

"_We've told you to never judge people by what's on the outside. It's what's on the inside that counts. It doesn't matter if a person's disabled or not. They're still people, just like us, and they can still do things that we can," Fukiko's father told her after kneeling down to her level._

"_But...all the other kids say he's retarded and weird now. They say if I hang out with them, I won't be popular," Fukiko muttered sheepishly._

"_You care way more about being popular than being a good, kind, understanding, accepting person?! Ugh! This is what's wrong with you! You're always being a shallow conformist giving in to peer pressure because you think it'll make people like you! That's not a good way to live, Fukiko!" Her mother shouted vehemently and erupted into a tirade. "True friends accept each other, both their strengths and weaknesses, and their abnormalities don't define them! You shouldn't be going around defining people by what's on the outside! Those _'popular'_ friends of yours are a bad influence!" She hissed the word popular like it was poison. "They're clouding your judgment! Kids these days don't treat each other right and hate each other for stupid reasons!"_

"_Kazuko. Please," Fukiko's father gently told his wife, Kazuko._

"_No! She's turning into a spoiled, selfish little brat because you're too soft on her, Masamune!" Kazuko shouted._

"_I am not selfish or spoiled!" Fukiko shouted back, appalled by her mother's vitriolic anger._

"_If I don't put a leash on you, you will be! Now go to your room, young lady! You're grounded for two whole weeks! No computer, no I-Pod, no new clothes, no hanging out with those spoiled brats you call friends, nothing!" Kazuko shouted. "I have to go to a seminar on disabilities this weekend, and I'm taking you with me so you can learn to not blindly believe false stereotypes those brainless husks you call friends are making you believe!"_

"_But that's not fair!" Fukiko shouted._

"_You shun Kyoya from everything and act like he was never your friend because he's in a wheelchair. Is that fair to him, Fukiko?" Masamune asked. "Do you really think believing he's nothing but a broken shell of what he was and ignoring him forever will make him normal again? That's not how life works, and that's especially not how friends treat each other. Let me put it this way: let's say you got into an accident and couldn't walk anymore, and then your own friends left you behind. You wouldn't like that, would you?"_

_Fukiko silently looked down at her feet, then pushed her father's arms off of her and dashed to her room. She plopped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow. She wanted to get away from this harsh reality and these confusing questions, but the pillow didn't swallow her up like she wanted it to._

(end flashback)

"He's done so much for me, yet I repay him by ditching him because I was too freaked out by his being in a wheelchair…" Fukiko muttered sadly.

"Yeah, that wasn't very nice of you," Riko said casually like usual, albeit a little too honestly.

Fukiko felt like a knife pierced her heart when Riko said that. But she knew she couldn't deny it. At least she told it like it is and didn't bother to sugarcoat it. "Yeah. I'm so stupid. If I could turn back time and be a better friend to him, I would. I've been meaning to apologize to him for the past month, but...I can never seem to get the courage."

"You better do it. If you don't, he'll never know you feel bad about it," Riko told her.

Another good point.

"At least you really do feel sorry about it. That's a start, right? Sorry I thought you were a mean girl before," Riko said.

'_What?! She thinks I'm a mean girl?!'_ Fukiko thought. How could Riko think she's like Yoshie and her clique of all people? Fukiko couldn't help but feel insulted by Riko's blunt comment. But then again, considering the way she's treated Kyoya after the accident and the fact that she hangs out with Ryoko, Kazumi, and Manaka, who gossip and say mean things about anyone because they're different or not in their immediate social circle, just like Yoshie and her friends do, perhaps she's right. Maybe Fukiko did turn into a mean girl. _'I cared way more about fitting in and being popular than being a friend and being there when he needed me the most, so I guess she's not way off the mark,'_ Fukiko thought again sadly. She's also right in that if she doesn't apologize soon, they'll never be able to patch things up, and she might lose her chance to make amends if she waits too long.

"Thanks for listening, Tasogare. At least you're nice. I wish I could be as understanding and not freaked out by stuff as you are," Fukiko told her with a soft smile. Riko was going to say something more until the bell rang. The kids had to go back to class. In English class, however, Mrs. Oginome had an announcement.

"Alright, class. Over the next few weeks, each and every one of you will work on an individual report on a mammal of your choice. It can be a cat, rabbit, a whale, a kangaroo, whatever you like. But you'll have to present it to the class two weeks from now, and no two students can do a report on the same animal. Raise your hand and tell me which animal you want to work on so I can write it down," Mrs. Oginome explained near the end of class.

Riko couldn't believe her ears. They've been learning about the different types of animals for the past week and a half or so. Mammals are animals that are warm blooded, don't lay eggs with some exceptions, have body hair that protects them from the cold, and have heightened hearing. It was easy as pie to decide which animal she could do her report on.

"Can I work on the cat, please?" Riko asked a little loudly as she flung her hand up. Some kids laughed.

"Alright. Cat's taken. Anyone else?" Mrs. Oginome said as she scribbled something into her clipboard.

"I'll do one on the horse!"

"Oh! Oh! Can I get the whale?"

"No! I want the whale!"

"You get the kangaroo!"

"Can't we watch a movie? Reports are boring!"

Riko did a little happy face and wriggled around in her seat a bit, slowly flapping her hands in excitement. Some students began whispering to each other when they saw her flapping her hands, but at this point, she didn't care. She can do a whole report on her all time favorite animal! She could get started right as she got home from school! But then again, it's not due for another two weeks, so she has plenty of time to work on it and do the research she needs. Plus, Sunbeam's still sick at home, so when she gets back, she has to take care of her.

However, while she's happy to be able to do a report on her favorite animal, another thought poked at her mind, and this one didn't make her the least bit happy: she has to go up in front of the class to present it. She has to stand in front of a huge group of people, who may or may not even be remotely interested in a report about cats. They might laugh at her, call her names, throw paper balls or tomatoes at her, or she might end up humiliating herself in front of them, giving them more pretext to make fun of her, and they'll probably keep doing it forever and ever and ever. Yuji isn't in her class, but Shimada and Fujimaki are, and she knows they'll pick on her or laugh at her if she goes up to present her report.

Finally, the kids went back to their homerooms for the remainder of the class time...which was only ten minutes. The final bell reverberated throughout the school, and the kids dashed out of the school building, rejoicing in their freedom for the rest of the day. Saki came and picked Riko up. The overly excited little girl wasted no time dashing up the stairs to check on the fairies. She found Sunbeam asleep in her bed, just like this morning, with the microfiber cloth still on her head. But when Riko touched it, she noticed it was dry. She also noticed the plastic cup of water on her computer desk. She soaked the cloth in the water, folded it neatly, and put it back on Sunbeam's head. She's happy that she's sleeping soundly and that her breathing is much less laboured and hoarse than it was this morning. A little later on, she picked up the phone to call Hotaru.

"_Hello?"_

"Hotaru-chan? It's me."

"_It's been a while, Riko. How are you?"_

"I'm fine, but Sunbeam's sick. She's doing better than this morning, but Starbeam says stress and culture shock caused it, and I don't get it."

"_What don't you get?"_

"How stress or being in another planet can make someone sick."

"_I learned about this in my psychology class recently. If someone's dealing with a lot of problems-like studying a lot, worrying too much, no time to rest-it makes it easier for their bodies to be vulnerable to illness because certain parts of their bodies used to fight diseases are constantly being used to deal with other things."_

"Ohhh! I get it. So if you're sad a lot or worry too much, it's easier to get sick?"

"_Precisely."_

"But how does being in another country or planet make someone sick?"

"_This doesn't happen to everyone, but if someone's in a completely new country, far away from everything they know and learned, where everything is different from their home-from their manners to their technology-it might be so shocking that they feel like they're in another planet and not be able to adjust well. Let's look at the differences between America and Pakistan, for example. Pakistan is a country very deeply rooted in the past, not interested in technology and nice houses and freedom we enjoy. Women especially aren't treated well in Pakistan. Unlike places in America, where women can be anything they want, like doctors or political leaders and do things like wear pants, women in Pakistan aren't allowed to do anything like that. They're expected to wear only dresses and covers, and they're only allowed to be housewives and parents, nothing else. They're not even allowed to marry who they want to marry, or go to school. Those are considered crimes worthy of the death penalty over there. So if they come to a place like America, where everything is nice and clean, where women are treated just as equally as the men and can do whatever they want without any fear or threats, she may not know what to do or how to live."_

'_A country that doesn't let women be anything they want to be? That must stink. I'm glad I was born in Japan,'_ Riko thought. She's lucky to be able to wear shorts and pants (especially since she loathes skirts and dresses with a burning passion), cut her hair short, obsess over cats, and watch cartoons. Then again, her heart went out to whatever woman was living in that oppressive, totalitarian country, or any country that hates women in general. In regards to stress, Sunbeam is certainly going through a lot of it. Her home's been destroyed, and the person who did it was someone she wanted to befriend, only for him to rip her heart to pieces with his overall malice, heartlessness, and treachery. "I see."

"_I'll come and visit this weekend. I'm sorry I don't get to hang out with you and the others much when monsters aren't attacking."_

"That's okay! I bet high school must be tough, so I didn't want to trouble you, even though I seem to trouble people no matter what."

"_Don't say that. I'm glad you called. For now, just be there for Sunbeam and take good care of her. A good friend is the best cure for any kind of illness. That's something one of my dads always says."_

"Wait, hold on. ONE of your dads?"

"_Yes. I have two dads. They're homosexual, but they're very nice."_

Riko found her jaw dropping to the ground. Hotaru has two dads? And they're homosexual? Riko's eyes are wide with surprise. Not with fear or hatred. She's seen shows about homosexual parents on TV, and Riko didn't notice anything wrong with it. If they love their child, then that's all that matters, right? And if they're nice, then why make a big deal out of it? Hotaru's the first person she's ever met who actually has two dads. Perhaps this is why she was nice to Hanae when she became Cure Starlight for the first time. They both have homosexual parents who love them very much. She regained her equanimity. "Okay. I was just confused. I wasn't trying be mean or anything."

"_I know you're not. I've gotten worse responses than that."_

"Hey, Riko! Get off the phone! Dad needs to borrow it!" Rina shouted as she stomped into Riko's room.

"Keep it down! I'll be off in a second!" Riko snapped back, causing Rina to stamp out of her room. "Sorry. I have to go. My sister's being annoying."

"_Okay. I'd love it if you'd show me some of your drawings some time. Hikage tells me you're very good."_

"I'm not that good. I'll see you later. Bye!"

"_Bye, Riko-chan,"_ With that, Riko hung up the phone.

When dinner came around, Riko saved a good lot of it for the fairies, including Sunbeam, which they all happily and gratefully consumed. Riko's heart was aglow with joy, happy to be back among people (okay, fairies) who like her and appreciate what she does for them. She also brought some fresh water for Sunbeam to drink, which she did.

When night fell, Riko found herself snuggled in bed with a Deerling plushie tucked underneath one of her arms, sleeping soundly and peacefully, with Sunbeam next to her. At 9:30 PM, Sunbeam found herself waking up. Her head isn't pulsating anymore, her throat doesn't feel scratchy or dry, her body isn't burning like fire, and she isn't coughing, sneezing, or hacking her guts out. She looked at the sleeping beauty next to her and smiled.

"Riko...my sisters...they've spent their whole day taking care of me. Thank you both," Sunbeam mused to herself sweetly as she gently stroke Riko's plump little cheek with her paw. _'I feel so blessed to have them in my lives. They're doing so much for me, even in the midst of all this tragedy and chaos,'_ Sunbeam thought as her eyes began to close on their own. Soon, she found herself back in dreamland. This time, no nightmares plagued her mind.

Footnotes:

1. The Fiend With Twenty Faces is a novel by popular Japanese detective fiction writer Edogawa Ranpo. He's mostly known for being a short story writer, two of his shorts being "Stalker In The Attic" and "The Psychological Test."

2. Fruits Basket is a well known manga by Natsuki Takaya.


	12. Road Trip To Rozaniela!

Chapter 12: The Pretty Cure's Space Bound Road Trip To Rozaniela!

"Achoo!" With a great sneeze, Zenjin blew a cloud of germs into his room as he slumped in his gaudy bed, causing Beileag, who sat next to him, to leap off the bed in disgust.

"Ew, Zenjin! Cover your mouth when you sneeze!" Beileag complained as she grabbed a random bottle of lime green hand sanitizer from his bureau and rubbed it on her hands, taking care to avoid the many bracelets that are decorating her wrists.

"Hey! I can't help it! How am I supposed to know when I sneeze?!" Zenjin blurted out hoarsely, his normally squeaky, dissonant voice becoming harsh and dry sounding. A large droplet of snot dribbled out of his nose, dangling from it like a wind chime. Beileag grabbed a bag of tissues and handed one of Zenjin. He yanked it out of her hand rather brusquely and wiped his nose with it. "UUUGH! My head feels like it's gonna explode!"

"Yeah, and you're spreading your germs around. If I get a disease or catch your cold, it'll be your fault! Now where's the bathroom? I don't want to get sick, and my beautiful complexion's in jeopardy!" Beileag exclaimed as she scrambled around to find a bathroom while Decebal, dressed in his beautiful, grandiose Shakespearian garb as usual, walked into the room holding a silver platter like a waiter with a huge array of breakfast foods on it. A cup of chocolate flavored yogurt, a glass of cold milk with ice cubes floating in it, a huge pile of pancakes with butter on top of it, covered with maple syrup, and with blueberries and strawberries scattered around it, some salty crackers, and another plate of French toast with cinnamon and maple syrup on it. When Beileag came out of the bathroom, feeling clean at last after washing her face with water and rose scented soap, she saw Decebal place the silver platter on a stool in front of Zenjin.

"Wooooow! What a spread! It looks like it came out of a super duper fancy five star restaurant or something!" Beileag chirped, awestruck by the beauty and orderliness of the breakfast Decebal made for Zenjin, the latter immediately scarfing down the milk and proceeding to completely ruin the meticulousness of it with his wolf-like eating. "Whoa! Zenjin! Don't eat it all at once, and chew your food! You'll choke!"

"Dun dell meh whadda dooh, beereeg!" Zenjin snapped back with a huge wad of French toast stuffed in his mouth, with some maple syrup spilling onto his midnight black pajama shirt.

"I TOLD you not to call me Beileag!" Beileag snapped once Zenjin took a bite out of another piece of French toast.

"It's your name, so if you're Beileag, then you're Beileag! Get over it!" Zenjin snapped as he threw the unfinished piece of French toast at her. It plopped right on her face and proceeded to fall on the floor, leaving a gob of butter and maple syrup on her cheek.

"Ewwww! Gross! Now I have to clean up again!" Beileag complained as she zipped into the bathroom again to clean up the mess on her face.

"I hate girls. They're always so fussy over the stupidest things," Zenjin mused as he began chomping rather grossly and hastily on his salty crackers.

"That's how women are, Zenny boy. But Beileag does mean well. She has been taking care of you for five years after all," Decebal told him as he twirled a curl of his long green hair with his glove covered finger.

"Pheh! Like I care! Ugh! I need to blow something up!" Zenjin screamed vehemently, his throat feeling like the skin is being scratched at by a cat that think it's a scratching post. With a swing of his arm, he threw a ball of purple energy at the wall, causing it to explode into a big cloud of black smoke. When it faded, all that's left is a big hole in the wall the size of a car, a huge pile of debris, and a completely flummoxed and surprised Beileag, whose face, clothes, and hair are all covered with patches of smoke.

"Okay. That was so, like, totally not necessary," Beileag piped in.

"Shut up, you drama queen. I'll fix it," Zenjin grumbled as he snapped his fingers. The debris returned to the wall and regenerated. The wall magically fixed itself.

"That's the Energia for you. Now I know why our ancestors wanted to seal their powers in it and hide it all this time," Decebal mused, awestruck by the powers that Zenjin has taken for himself.

"I wish I had the Energia. I could open my own fashion shop, make the most beautiful dresses in the world, and have everyone bow down before my beauty!" Beileag said as she wiped her face with a towel that was in the bathroom.

"You? Beautiful? Hah! That's as likely as people giving birth to baby mutated abominations with snake heads and no bodies to keep their organs in one place! Or finding a severed ear in the grass! Or Decebal watching sitcoms about fluffy bunnies in a hotel room!" Zenjin laughed heartily as he said that, banging his hand on the stool where his now extremely messy silver platter is sitting on a few times, but then erupted into a coughing fit.

"Oh, like you care!" Beileag complained.

"Go get his medicine," Decebal told her.

"Fine. Whatever," Beileag rolled her eyes as she left the room to get his medicine. _'Zenjin knows nothing of my beauty! Why does he always have to be so bratty and childish and rude?! Then again, boys are like that, after all, except for Decebal. At least he knows how beautiful I am,'_ Beileag thought to herself before sighing in exhaustion after three too many self cleanings.

"Tch! This is no fun! I should be out there gathering intel! I can't just sit here all day!" Zenjin complained as he knocked the silver platter off his bed, sending it crashing to the floor, causing all of the remaining food on it to spill onto the floor.

"You're going to have to. You can't push yourself too hard, or you'll end up sicker than you are now, and you'll have to spend MORE time in the house instead of gathering information," Decebal told him.

"BLEEEEEEGH!" Zenjin wailed hoarsely as he flopped back into bed. "This sucks," He said in a softer voice. "Achoo!" More snot dripping from his nose. Decebal handed him another tissue for him to wipe his nose with.

"Here! Gots his medicine!" Beileag leaped into the room cheerfully with the orange medicine bottle in her hand. She threw it to Decebal like it was a baseball. Decebal caught it without a hitch.

"Thank you, Billie. Also, since Zenjin's sick, would you mind going to Earth and gathering information? Someone has to stay here and look after him," Decebal told her with a suave looking smile, which made Beileag's heart go aflutter and her eyes turn into hearts.

"Ooooooh yessiree! I'll be more than happy to! I've been dying to go to Earth for weeks now! Do you know if they take Rozanielan money?" Beileag chirped cheerfully.

"Try not to get distracted, okay? We need to keep our priorities straight," Decebal told her.

"Okie dokie loki! Off to Earth I go! Wheeeee!" Beileag cheered as she spread her arms out straight like a plane and ran out of the room, pretending to be an airplane.

"Yay. She's gone. She's so freakin' annoying-achoo!" Zenjin complained, followed by another dribbly sneeze. "She better not bring back any dresses!"

"She can be quite a feather brained ditz at times. Even I find her constant enthusiasm to be a bit nauseating, along with those hippie clothes she wears all the time," Decebal said as he opened the medicine bottle. "Alright. Time for your medicine, Zenny boy."

"Ugh, no! That stuff tastes gross!" Zenjin complained.

He was NOT going to like staying in his fortress for God knows how long.

* * *

"Hey Marina-chan? What's Blue Moon?" Moonbeam asked as she sat in Marina's room, eyeing a poster featuring two girls, a blue haired one with a pink and orange guitar to match her frilly outfit, and a silver haired one with a silver microphone, contrasting with her purple and black outfit. The two girls looked to be in their teens, standing under multicolored spotlights, with smiles that seemed to light up the whole poster. The bottom of the poster features the audience in black, holding and waving little lights with pink handles and glowing bulbs shaped like little ribbons.

"You wanna know? They're a band that was pretty huge before I was born. I just got into them a few months ago. I love their music! They don't pull any punches and are always singing about good stuff, like getting along, being yourself, taking time to understand people, all that jazz!" Marina explained cheerfully, her goldenrod eyes lighting up upon mentioning the band name. "The blue haired girl is Kinou Asa, the guitarist, and the silver haired girl is Nakaya Yoko, the singer. They stopped making music for a while because of some stuff, but now they're back like they were never gone! Their newest single, Unison Second, just came out and it sold 5 million copies within two days!"

"That's awesome! I'd love to listen to their music! Do you have any CDs?" Moonbeam asked, her silver eyes glimmering with interest.

"I sure do! Where did I put them?" Marina asked as she looked under her bed and rummaged around to find those CDs. There's a lot of stuff under there: old school books, ripped binders, some stuffed animals, some socks, a shirt, and a few CDs. "Ah! Found them!" She pulled out three CDs and showed them to Moonbeam. The CD names in question are, _'Circus,'_ _'Etherium,'_ and _'Andante's Song.'_

"You said they stopped making music for a while. Why is that?" Moonbeam asked as she looked at the back of Etherium.

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Marina said.

"I don't mind. I love stories!"

"Okay then. They were pretty big back when they started, but after a few years, they got into a fight and broke up. Then they fell into hard times and started doing things they shouldn't have, like smoking pot and selling drugs and arguing with each other like crazy. This turned off their fans, and they both got put on house arrest for a few years. Thankfully, that made them realize what they've done and just last year they announced their comeback. They didn't expect their former fans to like them again, but they did! That's what I like best about their story," Marina said, looking at the poster and putting her hands on her chest like she's praying to God. "Even when they made bad decisions and made mistakes that cost them dearly, their fans never stopped believing in them. They didn't assume they'd be bad forever despite having some detractors. Their fans completely welcomed them back with handmade posters, glow lights, shirts, merchandise, everything. Some fans even brought their children with them. They're the reason why I want to be a rock star when I grow up. If they can have fans who still love them despite their background and mistakes, then who's to say I can't have fans who like me for who I am?"

"That's such a sweet story," Moonbeam said.

"I know, right?" Marina said with a smile.

"Umm...I was also wondering...exactly how'd you get that scar on your cheek?" Moonbeam asked.

"Oh? This?" Marina asked, pointing to the gnarled looking scar on her left cheek. "Some crazy lady attacked me with a garden trowel, saying stuff like _'you're the man who raped me!'_ and stuff like that."

"Ouch! How come you didn't get it removed?"

"We don't have the money. Mom's working two jobs just to pay the bills and put food on the table," Marina replied.

"Marina! Dinner's ready!" Hatoko called out from downstairs.

"Be down in a second!" Marina called back. "I'll bring some up for you. Okay?" Marina told her kindly as she dashed out of her room and into the dining room. Moonbeam found herself alone in Marina's music filled bedroom, surrounded by the many posters of the various bands and singers she likes.

Moonbeam looked down at the moon shaped clip on her sky blue bow. She tapped it, causing it to glow in a silver light. A light popped out of her ribbon and appeared in front of her. The light dissipated and out came a very tiny laptop about Moonbeam's size, pink in color with some multicolored flowers painted on it. It has a small screen and a small keyboard. Moonbeam began typing on it. Some static appeared on the screen.

"Please connect this time. Please connect…" Moonbeam prayed out loud as she typed some more. The static on the screen danced around until it finally began to form a clear image. The image shown on the screen is a woman with sterling silver hair, donning a feathered Native American style feathered headdress. She has green eyes like Riko and Kyoya, but in a much lighter shade than both of them.

"_Moonbeam? Is that you, Moonbeam?"_ The silver haired woman on the screen asked in a very beautiful, elegant, lady-like voice.

Moonbeam let out a very audible, joyous gasp. "Queen Malgorzata!"

"_It is you, dear! It's been so long, hasn't it?"_ The silver haired woman, Queen Malgorzata, exclaimed with a sweet, joyful smile on her face.

"It has been! I've been trying to contact you with this ComLap for so long, but it never worked until now! I'm so glad you're alright! You looked so terrible the last time we saw you! How are you? How are things on Rozaniela?" Moonbeam asked happily, her silver eyes aglow with relief. The Queen is alive and well.

"_I appreciate your concern, dear. I'm doing much better now, and the citizens and I are striving to restore what's left of Rozaniela back to its original state. The citizens are much more resilient than I thought they'd be considering they've never been in this kind of crisis before,"_ Queen Malgorzata told her with a chuckle. But then her face became somewhat downcast. _"Unfortunately, because of Zenjin's greed and treachery, many of our citizens have died. However, we're not going to let his malice bring us down. By the way, have you found the Pretty Cure yet?"_

"Yes I have! Four of them, and they're super duper nice! I've been dying to tell you about them, but for some reason the ComLap could never get through to you!" Moonbeam exclaimed, finding herself talking faster than normal.

"_King Ghislain had to cut off communications between our dimension and the one you're in for safety reasons. That's why. I'm glad your mission went well. I'm only sorry I had to send you and your sisters to a completely different planet considering everything that's happened. I didn't want you girls to get hurt or even killed,"_ The Queen replied kindly.

"_My Lady! We saved some more alicorns!"_ Someone on Malgorzata's end shouted jubilantly.

'_Alicorns are being saved?! There _is_ hope for Rozaniela after all!'_ Moonbeam screamed in her head.

"_That's wonderful, Jervis! I'll be there to oversee their health in just a moment. I just need to finish a few things,"_ Queen Malgorzata told the man, Jervis, then turned back to the screen. _"Sorry about that, Moonbeam."_

"No no! That's good! Hey! Does that mean me and my sisters can come and visit you? I'd love to introduce you to the Pretty Cure!" Moonbeam asked enthusiastically.

"_I would like that. But I wouldn't recommend it right now,"_ The Queen told her.

"Why not?"

"_It's been very busy since Zenjin took the Energia, and there's still rescue efforts taking place. Plus, it might be a bit dangerous for you and your sisters to come here now. We don't know where Zenjin is, nor what he's planning. But I'll be free in a few days, so you and your friends can come and visit then,"_ The Queen explained kindly.

"I see. Okay then," Moonbeam said, looking a little downcast.

"_Don't look so down, Moonbeam. We have to stay positive. I have to go, so-"_

"Wait! One more thing!"

"_What is it, dear?"_

Moonbeam had been dying to ask about this, and now seemed like the perfect time. "Tell me. Are Mom and Dad...alive?" Moonbeam's silver eyes watered. She looked like she was about to cry.

The Queen smiled softly. _"Yes, they are. Rest assured. They are alive and well. In fact, Hornbeam's been taking care of survivors left and right, and I can't even count the amount of lives he and the other medical staff have saved."_

Moonbeam couldn't help but jump for joy. She jumped so hard she made a set of Marina's bongos fall off the bed and onto the floor. They didn't break. "YEEESSS! MOM AND DAD ARE ALIVE! Yaaaaay! I can't wait to tell my sisters about this!" Moonbeam squealed loudly as she jumped all over Marina's bed, unable to contain her relief and excitement. Malgorzata laughed.

"_It makes me happy to see you smile. I have to go now, Moonbeam. You take care. Bye!"_ Malgorzata told her with a smile, and the ComLap's screen went black.

Moonbeam just couldn't contain her utter relief. For about a month, she had been dying to know if her parents were alive or not, and not knowing anything about their fate made her want to go absolutely crazy. But now, she couldn't be happier than a clown if she tried. Hornbeam and Crossbeam are alive and well! They didn't die during Zenjin's rampage of destruction and death! They're alive, alive, alive! They're safe and sound! They're not dead! Moonbeam squealed, cheered, jumped, flew, and shouted all over the place, bouncing off the walls. Literally! She even wound up accidentally knocking off one of Marina's Michael Jackson posters, sending it fluttering to the floor. A couple guitar picks fell off of Marina's desk, scattering onto the floor.

"Uhh...you're making my room a mess, Moonbeam," Marina said as she stopped in her room with a plate of garlic shells, chicken, and two crescent rolls in her hands, along with a fork and a knife. When Moonbeam heard Marina's voice, she stopped and noticed the mess.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'll clean up right away!" Moonbeam told her apologetically and proceeded to put the poster she ran into back on the wall. She then gathered the fallen guitar picks and put them back on the desk, all on top of each other. "I didn't mean to make a mess. Honest."

"That's okay. What are you so hyped up about anyway? Mom thought I forgot to turn off my boom box," Marina told her as she put the plate on her desk. Then she noticed the ComLap. "And when did you get a little laptop?"

"Oh, oh, oh, Marina-chan! I am just soooooo happy right now! Guess what? I managed to contact the queen of my world!" Moonbeam exclaimed loudly and happily, cowing Marina a little bit. "I found out my queen's okay and my parents are alive and we can go to Rozaniela now! Ohhh! I know! How about I take you there this weekend?!"

"Uhh...what?"

* * *

Moonbeam couldn't wait for the weekend to come. Neither could Marina. When she told everyone, including Kyoya, about what Moonbeam did, they decided to meet in the park where the giant guinea pig attacked that weekend so they can talk about everything. Finally, after much impatient waiting, the weekend finally arrived. The girls, Kyoya, and the fairies met in the little park. The fairies are beside themselves with joy.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh Mom and Dad are seriously alive this is so awesome they're not dead yay!" Sunbeam chirped as she flitted around like an annoying housefly.

"What a wonderful development! My heart is completely consumed by a tsunami of relief! Mother and father are alive and well and haven't perished from Zenjin's nefarious reign of destruction and terror! They have survived the tragedy! And not only that, the dimensions between Earth and Rozaniela have finally become aligned again, allowing communication to be carried out via Communication Laptop again! What a joyous occasion! What relief! This is cause for a celebration! Does anyone happen to have any Rozanielan Fairy juice on their person? I have never felt such happiness, and it's increasing exponentially by each passing meter! Why, I feel as though I might explode in a rain of happiness!" Starbeam palavered happily, using bigger words than usual.

"I know, right?! This is sooooo wonderful! Mom and Dad are alive!" Moonbeam cheered in a loud voice, which the girls and Kyoya thought was strange since she usually speaks in a soft, timid voice. Nobody bothered to notice Lovebeam looking away from the group with a pouty, chubby face.

"Umm...that's all well and good, girls, but we have some questions we'd like to ask, if you don't mind," Kyoya said, raising his hand to stop the three fairy sisters from palavering on too much and getting carried away.

"Oh. Yes. Terribly sorry about our childish and inopportune outbursts. What questions do you wish for us to answer?" Starbeam said sheepishly, her blue face donning streaks of pink on her cheeks.

"For starters, what's that little laptop you have there? Is it part of your world?" Hotaru asked.

"Yep! This is what everyone calls the Communication Laptop, or ComLap for short. Yeah, it's a silly name, I know. If people and fairies have them and are in different dimensions, they can talk to each other with it. Kind of like cell phones. But you can't use these on the same planet. It only works when the recipients are in two different dimensions. It also only works when the two dimensions are aligned, as that's when communication between different dimensions is possible. Our ancestors checked," Moonbeam explained as lucidly as she could.

"How can dimensions be aligned? I don't get it," Anzu said, shifting her glasses a little bit.

"Me either," Riko piped in.

"Our ancestors made it that way. They had God-like powers, so they could do whatever they wanted. King Ghislain and Queen Malgorzata can do it too," Sunbeam explained.

"So how come you weren't able to talk to the King and Queen until now?" Hotaru asked.

"The dimensions weren't aligned, because the King threw them out of whack after we got sent out to find the Pretty Cure. He and the Queen probably figured since Zenjin just got the Energia and might not be able to know how to align the different dimensions, he wouldn't be able to come back to Rozaniela if he tried," Sunbeam explained further. "The Queen told me that when I contacted her a few days ago."

"But now the dimensions are aligned again! Not only can we communicate with everyone there, we can go there, too! That's why I had you all gather here! I really want to take you all to Rozaniela and introduce you to the Queen, King, and our parents!" Moonbeam chirped cheerfully. "...if it's not still a barren mess."

"Sounds awesome! I'd love to go!" Riko said with a smile. A real life fantasy world, one like in books and anime...Riko never thought she'd ever see the day where she'd get to go to another world. Just the thought of it is making her jump up and down happily while flapping her hands. Marina looked away upon seeing this.

"But won't our parents worry? We can't be gone for too long, or they'll think we got kidnapped," Kyoya piped in with some concern in his voice.

"He has a point. Don't you have some kind of time freezing spell that'll stop time here?" Riko asked as she ceased her jumping and hand flapping.

"Unfortunately, no," Moonbeam said. "That's one of the powers that our ancestors had, which they then sealed in the Energia. None of us have that kind of power. Sorry."

"But we promise we won't remain there for very long. We'll be sure to return you to your homes safe and sound, and at a reasonable time, before the day ends," Starbeam said.

"I'm not too sure about this," Hotaru murmured doubtfully, raising an eyebrow. "I know you girls mean well, but if we leave our town unattended, Zenjin and Decebal might use the opportunity to do what they want and we won't even know it or be able to stop it."

"Another good point," Kyoya said.

"We don't have a solution to that either. Sorry," Sunbeam said.

"Well, how about this? I can stay here and if I see any Corrupt Sentinels walking around, I can call one of you girls and tell you about it so you can come back and fight it," Kyoya suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Moonbeam exclaimed.

"But we'll be on another planet! How can phone calls even work in between planets?" Riko asked.

"I don't know how, but interplanetary phone calls are indeed possible. In fact, the first ever interplanetary telephone conversation was initiated in 1969, when one of the first astronauts who set foot on the moon, Neil Armstrong, called Richard Nixon, one of the presidents of the United States back then. This was long before they had cell phones," Hotaru explained with a cheerful smile.

"Sounds good to me. I'll stay here and keep an eye on things," Kyoya said, impressed by Hotaru's knowledge.

"Aww. I really wish you could come with us. There's so much we want to show you!" Moonbeam said.

"Me too. I don't want to leave you out," Riko said, agreeing with Moonbeam.

"But since the dimensions are aligned, we can go back and forth from Earth to Rozaniela anytime now, so I'm sure he can come with us another time-" Starbeam explained until she got cut off.

"Kyo-chan should go with you. I'll stay!" Lovebeam interjected, causing everyone to turn their heads to look at her slightly pouty, chubby little cotton candy pink face.

"You want to stay here?" Marina asked curiously.

"Yes. I'm sorry to say this, but...I don't want to go to Rozaniela!" Lovebeam elaborated.

"What?!" All three of her sisters yelped in perfect unison. Lovebeam doesn't want to go and visit her home planet? All of the kids looked at each other with confused faces. Lovebeam doesn't want to go to her home planet?

"Why don't you want to come?" Moonbeam asked.

"I just don't! I can stay and look after things here. Take Kyo-chan with you. He deserves this much," Lovebeam replied. Starbeam and Moonbeam looked at each other with confusion painted on their faces, just like the kids are doing now.

Sunbeam, however, was livid. "Are you seriously saying you don't want to visit Mom and Dad and the Queen and King?! Do you even care about their welfare at all?! Aren't you even the least bit concerned for their well being?! What about your friends and the rest of the planet?! You're so selfish and inconsiderate!" Sunbeam shouted in a loud voice that caused Riko to make a noise and cover her ears frightfully, intimidated by the screechiness of her yelling.

"Of course I'm concerned, and I am NOT inconsiderate! I just-" Lovebeam tried to contradict her, but Sunbeam's so mad she won't even let her older sister explain herself.

"Admit it! You don't care about Mom or Dad or anyone on there at all! You just want to stay here and have fun and lollygag while everyone else is either dead, hurt, or working their butts off to preserve what's left of the planet and whatever survivors are left! You're a selfish and inconsiderate little coward!" Sunbeam yelled vehemently.

"Will you calm down?!" Moonbeam exclaimed as she flew in between the frightened Lovebeam and the choleric Sunbeam.

"Stop being soft on her, Moonbeam! You know it and I know it! She doesn't care about Mom and Dad or anyone else at all!" Sunbeam yelled.

"You don't know that. She has a point that someone needs to stay and watch over the town and call us if Zenjin makes trouble again. Besides, Lovebeam might not be ready to face Rozaniela yet. We don't even know if it's still a desolate wasteland or not, and she might not want to see what's left of it. Some people can handle it just fine while others can't. You shouldn't make decisions for other people, and if they say they don't want to do something, you shouldn't force it," Moonbeam told her lucidly.

"Urrrgh! Lovebeam's like this because you keep letting her do what she wants!" Sunbeam yelled.

"Alright, enough!" Marina shouted, causing everyone to stop yelling and Riko to cover her ears in fright. "You know what? Let's ALL go to Rozaniela! No ifs, ands, buts, complaining, crying, screaming, whining, puking, belly-aching or any of that garbage! That's final!" Marina edicted loudly like she's some super gung-ho military officer.

"That's right! Tell it like it is, Mari-chan!" Sunbeam cheered.

"Not helping!" Moonbeam grumbled out loud.

Lovebeam crossed her arms and looked away. "I still don't see why I have to!"

"Well, we're all going, so we might as well cast the spell," Starbeam said.

The four fairies formed a circle. The accessories on their ribbons and their hair clips all glowed radiantly in their respective colors: purple, orange, blue, and pink. A very small, rainbow colored circle appeared under them, which suddenly grew bigger and bigger. The girls, fairies, and Kyoya all fell in. But not in a fatal and scream-inducing way. They found themselves floating in what appears to be a glowing tunnel surrounded by lights of multifarious colors: cotton candy pink, sky blue, lime green, sunshine yellow, mandarin orange, snow white, violet purple, etc.

"Wow! Are we actually flying?!" Anzu exclaimed, her lime green eyes wide with wonder and curiosity.

"This is so cool!" Kyoya said as he fastened the seat belt on his wheelchair to keep from falling out.

"I never knew something like this existed. What a fascinating discovery," Hotaru mused, in awe of the glowing magical tunnel they're floating through.

"This is the safest way to go back and forth between dimensions and planets. Plus, the laws of gravity don't apply here, so that's why you're not falling or screaming for your lives," Sunbeam explained.

"Soooo pretty!" Riko said happily as she found herself spinning around in the glowing tunnel like a top, giggling and watching all the pretty, colorful lights spin around her.

"Are we there yet? I'm starting to see spots," Marina said.

"Oh! There it is!" Moonbeam said as she darted on ahead.

Kyoya found himself next to Lovebeam, who silently floated next to him, continuing to make a face a bratty child would make if they had been put in time out. "What's wrong, Lovebeam?" Kyoya asked.

"I wish they didn't force me to come with them," Lovebeam mused petulantly.

"Sorry we kinda forced you into this. But can I ask why you don't want to?" Kyoya asked without any persistence or malice in his voice.

"I'd like to, but it's complicated. Plus if I did say, you'd take it the wrong way and call me inconsiderate or selfish or a brat, just like Sunbeam did," Lovebeam replied.

"No I wouldn't. I'd like to know, but I shouldn't pry, so feel free to tell me when you're ready. Okay? I'd be more than happy to listen," Kyoya told her.

Lovebeam turned to look at his diamond shaped face, her purple eyes slightly wide with a touch of surprise. She expected him to react the same way Sunbeam did, but he didn't. _'He actually wants to listen to me?'_ Lovebeam asked herself. However, before she could say anything else, the glowing tunnel of light faded.

The fairies expected Rozaniela to still be a desolate, barren wasteland, with no signs of beauty or life at all. But much to their surprise, it is no longer barren, dismal, or desolate with the scents of death and despair polluting the air. Instead, the sky is a peachy keen cotton candy pink color, with the radiant white sun shining brightly. The trees, with its gnarled branches shaped in oddly contorted and unnatural angles, have little newborn leaves growing from them. The ground beneath their feet is an ocean of emerald grass, with some flower buds sprouting from beneath the soil. Just the sight of their rejuvenated planet left the fairies frozen with awe. But the girls and Kyoya were frozen with awe for other reasons. For one thing, they're in a completely new world, with a pink sky and a white sun, which is very unnatural. Riko could see some pretty purple butterflies fluttering about on the gentle breeze, watching them as they frolicked in the sky happily.

"Is this really your world? It's beautiful!" Anzu mused, her lime green eyes wide with wonder, awestruck by the new environment.

"Yeek! Look!" Moonbeam squealed as she pointed to a tall cliff that towered over them. The kids and fairies turned around to find four horses standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at them with kind, soft eyes.

Winged horses. With horns on their heads. With sparkling, rainbow manes that shimmered underneath the sun's effulgence.

"Real winged unicorns! Wow! They're so beautiful!" Riko exclaimed, her green eyes bursting with awe and excitement. "I want to pet them! Do you think they'll let me?!" As soon as she said that, the four winged unicorns turned around, flapped their large wings, and ascended into the sky gracefully. Their slender legs galloped as they soared in the air gracefully like angels. "Awww. I scared them off. As usual."

"It's not your fault. Alicorns are very timid creatures who prefer to stay out of public view unless circumstances say otherwise," Starbeam explained.

"I'd love to ride one of those someday," Anzu said wistfully, already wishing the alicorns didn't fly away.

"Me too. They're so majestic," Hotaru said.

"Hey! Look over there!" Kyoya yelped, which prompted the girls and fairies to turn around. They saw some humans and plushy looking fairies carrying some debris with wheelbarrows. Others were carrying makeshift stretchers with some injured people on them, while some doctors, both human and fairy, tended to their wounds.

"Think we might be close to a town?" Marina asked.

"Let's go! We might find the Queen there!" Sunbeam exclaimed.

As the kids and fairies walked through whatever part of the planet they're in, they began to see the extent of the damage Zenjin did on the planet. More piles of destroyed houses, charred trees black as coal, some hastily made graves, and people scurrying about trying to give food, medicine, and treatment to anyone who's injured or in need came into view. It's definitely not as desolate and barren as when the Queen ordered Lovebeam and her sisters to chase Zenjin to Earth, but the scent of despair still persisted. But the kids and fairies also saw courage, resilience, confidence, jubilance, and even some gaiety among the citizens. They could hear a group of people cheering and rejoicing loudly about a few feet away. A woman and her baby, both covered in debris, have been pulled out of a destroyed house, and some citizens rushed to put her on a makeshift stretcher and give her and her baby medicine. Other people and fairies built makeshift houses, a makeshift hospital, and even a makeshift restaurant. The people took the woman and her baby to their nearby makeshift hospital, where they were greeted by staff who were ready for the job like they predicted it years in advance. Others gathered at the makeshift restaurant, receiving all kinds of food and necessities, like warm soup, fruit, vegetables, fresh bread, etc. Some fairies shared their food with some hungry, injured children, who received it warmly and gratefully. Some young boys in their early teens are wrapping gauze around a young alicorn's injured leg. People of all ages and nationalities are carrying debris away with wheelbarrows, while others still searched in other piles of it, calling out to people who might be trapped underneath. Others continued to dig with their bare hands, magic spells, or machines. Medical staff scurried about like mice, rushing to anyone who's injured, sick, or in need of immediate attention. Some fairies gave bottles of water to people who are thirsty. Other kids and fairies are happily playing around, happy to at least be outside.

"It's hard to believe Rozaniela was so desolate when we left…" Moonbeam mused with a glimmer of hope and relief in her sterling silver eyes. "Everyone's working together to help each other out and do whatever they can to get the planet back on it's feet, even when they just got hit with the biggest disaster ever."

Even Lovebeam couldn't help but smile. "That just goes to show how strong everybody is. I'm glad they're alright," Lovebeam said.

Marina looked around the area like some sailor on a ship looking for land. "So where's this Queen of yours?" Marina asked.

"She should be around here somewhere," Sunbeam said as they decided to walk further.

"So what's your Queen like? Is she nice?" Kyoya asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked! She's one of the nicest people on all of Rozaniela! In fact, she's been around since our ancestors put their all of energy into the Energia many years ago! She's sweet, kind, caring, beautiful, regal, elegant, bold, brave, and everything else! She likes to do lots of things normal queens don't normally do, like jousting, sewing clothes for charities, sculpting, and sword fighting! Not only is she beautiful and elegant, she's brave and strong, too!" Lovebeam explained happily.

"Oh! There she is! Look!" Moonbeam exclaimed as they came upon the remains of a destroyed town, albeit in the process of getting rebuilt by some determined and persistent volunteers.

They came upon a group of people who are receiving boxes of fresh, brand new, hand made clothes from what appears to be a silver haired woman dressed in Native American raiment. The woman's long, Rapunzel-like hair is mostly let down, with little braids dangling from it decorated with multicolored beads, like crimson red and aqua blue. On her head is a Native American feathered headdress with white crest feathers with black and crimson red tips. The woman is wearing a beige shawl over a matching beige long sleeved shirt and pants, all with blue strings wrapped around the cuffs. She's also wearing soft, pale brown Indian moccasins with little wiggly noodle-like streamers dangling from the top of them and pale violet purple ribbons donning them. The woman isn't wearing any war paint anywhere, not even on her round face. Her eyes are a striking emerald, just like Kyoya's green eyes. The woman's smile is soft and beautiful, framed with cotton candy pink lips as she handed more clothes to a woman and her children, who are in tatters and rags.

"Thank you so very much, my Queen. You have no idea how grateful we are for your generosity," The dirty, tattered woman with a little boy and girl clutching her ripped skirt told her gratefully. The magnanimous Native American dressed woman flashed a royal but sweet smile.

"You're very welcome. You and your children deserve it. Here are some for your husband, too. You'd best get to the hospital and see him," The Queen told her, handing her another bag of fresh clothes. The woman bowed again as she took the bag and left with her two children in tow. She then turned to the rest of the people. "Everyone! There is still much to be done! But if you wish to take a break, feel free to do so!"

"Come on, everyone! There might still be survivors in need of help!" One woman edicted proudly as she gathered the rest of the citizens. They ran off to find more piles of debris in case there are more people in need of rescue.

The fairies couldn't take it anymore. "Malgorzataaaaa!" In perfect unison, Moonbeam, Sunbeam, Starbeam, and Lovebeam all flew toward their beloved queen, glomping her and rubbing themselves into her shawl. The Queen, albeit surprised, embraced the four fairies warmly like a mother who just reunited with her children.

"Oh my! You came back!" The Queen said warmly as she stroke the now wailing fairy sisters gently. "I suppose it's only natural you'd want to visit. I'm so happy to see that you're all okay."

"Queen! Queen! We brought the Pretty Cure here and a friend of theirs! Come see! Come on!" Moonbeam insisted as she took the Queen by the hand and gently, albeit impatiently, escorted her to the kids, who are in awe of the Queen's appearance. Sunbeam, Starbeam, and Lovebeam joined in.

"These are our friends!" Sunbeam exclaimed cheerfully, her blue eyes radiant with joy from seeing the Queen, relief in seeing her looking much better than she was when she left, and excitement from impatiently wanting to introduce her friends to her. Riko shyly hid behind Hotaru the minute the Queen came over. "This is Tasogare Riko, Cure Twilight, the tall one is Minamigawa Hotaru, Cure Starlight, the blonde haired one is Chino Anzu, Cure Dawn, and the orange haired girl is Asagi Marina, Cure Dusk! The boy is Mitomo Kyoya. He's not a Cure, but he's our friend, too!"

"We're very honored to be in your presence, your royal majesty," Hotaru bowed politely before the Native American dressed queen. Anzu, Marina, Riko, and Kyoya followed suit, but Riko continued to hide behind Hotaru. The Queen offered her hand out to Hotaru, who warmly smiled and gently shook her hand.

"My, what lovely girls you are. I'm so happy to see you all. But you needn't concern yourselves with formalities. Feel free to call me Malgorzata, or just Queen Mal," The Queen, Malgorzata, told her kindly.

Moonbeam flitted over to Riko. "Don't be shy. The Queen is super duper nice and friendly! She won't bite," Moonbeam told her reassuringly.

"Sorry. I can't help it," Riko whispered shyly.

"Would it be alright if you showed me your Heart Lighters? I just want to see definitive proof that you are the Pretty Cure," Queen Malgorzata asked politely.

"Sure! Here's mine!" Marina exclaimed as she yanked out her orange Heart Lighter. Hotaru pulled out her blue one, Anzu her yellow one, and Riko her purple one.

"Yes. These Heart Lighters are genuine, and they've chosen you," Queen Malgorzata said. "I take it you have a lot of questions. Let's go over there. We can sit down and discuss everything then," She said, pointing to an emptier meadow with some rectangle shaped rocks lying around. The kids, fairies, and the Queen ambled over to the rectangle shaped rocks, which served as great benches. Hotaru, Anzu, and Marina sat on one big rock while Kyoya, still in his wheelchair, sat next to it. Riko sat right next to him on the grass, her legs in a criss-cross position. Moonbeam and Sunbeam sat right with her, while Lovebeam sat in Kyoya's lap and Starbeam on Hotaru's.

"I must first apologize for involving you in this mess," Queen Malgorzata began, her emerald eyes slightly somber and apologetic. "We had no idea any of this would happen, and I'd rather you stay out of this mess so you could be safe and live normal lives, but as you can see, the circumstances are dire for both my world and yours."

"It's quite alright, Queen. We're just curious as to how this whole mess happened in the first place," Hotaru told her reassuringly.

"How was your planet created?" Anzu asked.

"How were the Heart Lighters and the Pretty Cure created?" Marina asked.

"Who is Zenjin and why did he do what he did?" Kyoya asked.

"Now now, one at a time. I'll explain everything from the beginning," The Queen said, a little inundated by their line of questioning. "Our ancestors were an alien race whose powers were limitless. They could do everything, from telekinesis to creating planets with their own oxygen and ozone layers. But soon they grew to hate each other because of their growing arrogance, and many died as a result. Those remaining found Earth and wanted to live there, but they didn't like how the humans treated each other. They didn't like the expectations they put on their generations, like extremely strict gender roles, disdain for anything that wasn't perfectly normal, and general corruption. True, I know this wasn't always the case, but our ancestors decided Earth wasn't a good place to live. They were, however, very shocked at the way some orphans were treated in third world countries. It was about a hundred years ago that they decided to create the planet we're on now, so they could not only make a home for themselves and us, but for the huge troves of mistreated and abused babies they would take with them-"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Hold up!" Marina interjected. "You say your ancestors just up and stole a bunch of babies from third world orphanages?"

"Mari-chan! It's rude to interrupt!" Riko scolded mildly, annoyed by Marina's lack of manners.

"Yes, it's true," Malgorzata confessed casually.

"You do realize you've been kidnapping huge amounts of babies for about a century, right?" Marina asked.

"You raise a valid point. But the babies were suffering greatly, and the people who were supposed to take care of them couldn't care less about their welfare. I will confess, we were hasty in our endeavor and just took them but their caretakers really couldn't care less about them. That's why we only limited our rescues to run down orphanages in third world countries, because nobody cares about whether huge troves of children go missing or not," Malgorzata explained. "Besides, if we didn't save them, they would have died! Did you know that babies can actually die if they don't have someone to love and care for them even while receiving food and other necessities?"

"That can happen?" Riko asked Anzu.

"This is the first I've heard of it," Anzu replied.

"Anyway, once Rozaniela was at a stable population, our remaining ancestors made a decision: to put away all of their limitless powers so nobody can hate each other or use them for evil purposes. That's when they created the Energia as a container for their powers. Then they sealed it within the core of the planet, because no being would ever think to go down there. They then set up lots of security systems as a precaution, and the first layer of access is just below my castle. I have a special squadron of royal security guards made just for guarding the Energia's layers of security systems. Because the Energia contains limitless power and energy, it would be perilous if it got into the wrong hands. That's why our ancestors were so dead set on sealing it someplace where nobody could access it no matter how hard they tried," Malgorzata elaborated further.

"What do the Pretty Cure have to do with this whole thing?" Kyoya asked, clutching Lovebeam.

"I don't remember exactly, but some of those ancestors created the Heart Lighters as another safety precaution. As far as I can tell, there were exactly eight Heart Lighters in existence, four of which you girls already have, Two are broken and another two are missing," Malgorzata replied. The girls all looked at their Heart Lighters with wonder. "For reasons I still don't understand, the Heart Lighters only work on young females who have strong resolves and kind hearts. I know this because I personally rescued and raised two young Pretty Cure candidates."

"There were Pretty Cure before us?!" Anzu yelped cheerfully, her lime green eyes wide with yearning for more. "What were they like? Who were they?"

"They were two young girls who I found in Japan many years ago, miserable and suffering. Nozawa Youko and Akai Hinata, aka Cures Sunlight and Daylight. They became friends the minute they met, and were thick as thieves. It was when they grew into teenagers that we learned about the Pretty Cure. Two of the Heart Lighers resonated with them when disaster struck once, and they managed to defeat the person responsible for it. I don't know the entire story, as much of it took place on Earth, and they went back to live there once it was over. I don't know what became of them, but I can only hope that they're doing well."

"I'd love to meet them," Hotaru said.

"Me too!" Marina piped in.

"Moonbeam said that the King and other people rescued Zenjin from an abusive home, right?" Riko asked.

Malgorzata grimly nodded. "Yes. One of my subjects went to Earth for inspiration for a novel when he passed by a house. He saw a woman cruelly abusing the poor child, sitting on him to the point of rendering him unable to breathe, yelling at his face, slapping him repeatedly, and degrading him in the worst ways possible. It was so bad he actually told my husband, King Ghislain, and some of his subjects about it. They raided the house, caught the woman in the act, and saved him," Images flashed through Malgorzata's mind as she remembered that fateful day, seeing her husband with a gauze wrapped, battered bundle in his arms, rushing the poor thing to the hospital. She remembered the boy completely wrapped in gauze to the point where he looked like he was mummified, the oxygen mask duct taped to his face, the surgeons and doctors, Hornbeam among them, scurrying about to save his life, the heart monitors beeping like crazy, his fingers bent and contorted in odd, unnatural angles, huge black bruises on his legs, arms, and face, and worst of all, the boy's brown eyes wide with absolutely nothing but naked fear.

"So...how did he take the Energia anyway? If that diamond's been sealed up deep into your planet, then how did he manage to get access to it?" Anzu asked.

"I know how!" Lovebeam piped in out of nowhere with one of her stubby little hands raised into the air like she's desperate to answer. "Decebal helped him out!"

"What?!" The kids and the Queen gasped with horror upon hearing this, the Queen even more so.

"How do you know?" Marina asked.

"Decebal used to work in King Ghislain's royal squadron, the ones responsible for guarding all of the security systems keeping the Energia safe! You can't be a member of the royal squadron without knowing everything about the Energia and the passwords to every single level in the system! Isn't that right, Queen?" Lovebeam explained.

Malgorzata made a sad face and facepalmed. "Decebal...so that's it…" Her face contorted sadly. "How could I have been so foolish?! We should never have rehired him after what happened!" Malgorzata exclaimed somberly.

"So what's his deal?" Kyoya asked. "Lovebeam said something about him being fired at first, then you rehired him. Why is that?"

Malgorzata wiped some sweat off of her pale face with one of her bare hands. "Decebal was one of my husband's finest subjects. He's a well known actor for the Rozanielan Fairy Troupe which specializes in putting on plays and performances all over the planet. My husband adored him, and hired him when he asked to work for him to earn extra income. Decebal became my husband's most trusted confidant. At first, everything was fine until he began making radical claims about our way of running the planet. He accused me and my husband of brainwashing the citizens into thinking that there is no suffering and misery and that we're telling them that the world is always a nice and happy place. My husband fired him when he caught him beating a young woman for contradicting his claims and for wearing pants. But after a few months, he apologized and Ghislain hired him back," Malgorzata facepalmed again with a sigh. "He seemed so remorseful, too! To think he was plotting something all this time right under our noses and we didn't even see it! He completely took advantage of our generosity! Especially since he and his wife adopted Zenjin right after he got rehired!"

"Wait, what?!" The girls and Kyoya all yelped with surprise, in perfect unison.

"That sexist green haired guy is Zenjin's adoptive dad?!" Marina yelped in a loud voice.

"Yes. He and his wife Beileag offered to adopt Zenjin after we rescued him," Malgorzata explained again. "Zenjin never did adjust well to his new surroundings, but he seemed to be fond of Decebal and Beileag. But now...I think they were all in on the plot to steal the Energia. And that's where the story ends."

As soon as Riko heard Malgorzata say Zenjin was raised under Decebal's care, all kinds of thoughts began swirling in her head like a whirlpool. However, one stuck out like a sore thumb: did Decebal offer to raise Zenjin so he could fill his head with his radical ideas and plot Rozaniela's destruction? Or maybe even groom him into his personal pawn? It would explain why Zenjin's so disturbingly cocky, arrogant, and homicidal. But even she knew it's just as cruel to love someone for the wrong reasons, especially to turn them into bloodthirsty monsters and make them do stuff they're not supposed to.

"Queen. There's something you should know. Zenjin's been exposing people's Soul Portals, ripping out their souls, and turning them into black animal-shaped monsters. We gave them the moniker Corrupt Sentinels, but he calls them Human Trash," Hotaru explained calmly.

"I see," The Queen said, rubbing her chin with her hand. "Invading someone's Soul Portals, or privacy in general, is a serious offense here on Rozaniela. But I can't think of any reason why he'd want to, though. I know that Soul Portals can only be exposed by the Energia's energy."

"Do you even know why they wanted the Energia so bad? Do they want to take over the world or something?" Marina asked.

"Taking over the world is so cliche," Anzu piped in.

"I'm afraid we know absolutely nothing about their motives for stealing the Energia. All I know is that when Zenjin got his hands on it for the first time, he used it to decimate the entire planet, as you can see. It was a test run to see what it was capable of," Malgorzata said as she looked at what's left of her planet. Some people are still scurrying to take injured people in makeshift stretchers and gurneys to the makeshift hospital. Others are still digging through piles of debris or calling out to people who are in need of rescue. Some firefighters are dousing a fire consumed house with all the water from their hoses. "Thankfully, the denizens of Rozaniela are working together to rebuild their home. I'm surprised at how determined and resilient they are."

"I kept telling you Decebal was bad news!" Lovebeam piped in loudly. Marina just shook her head like she saw something embarrassing.

"Thank you for telling us everything, Queen. We really appreciate it. Since we're Pretty Cure, we'll do our best to take back the Energia and do whatever it takes to stop whatever it is Zenjin, Decebal, and whoever else he is allied with are planning," Hotaru told her kindly. The fairies, Kyoya, and the girls nodded.

"I'm very grateful for your kindness, even though I wish you wouldn't be involved in the first place. You girls are so young and full of hopes and dreams. But this situation is dangerous, and you may find yourselves at the edge of death. I don't want to burden you girls with such a heavy responsibility, especially since you have friends, parents, and loved ones whose lives are in just as much danger as your own," Malgorzata told them with a soft but somewhat sad smile. "But I can help out too, if you wish. I may look like an elegant lady, but I'm very well known for my jousting skills and naginata wielding prowess."

"Oh! I practice the naginata, too!" Hotaru exclaimed excitedly, her blue eyes sparkling with enthusiasm upon hearing Malgorzata utter the word naginata.

Malgorzata chuckled. "How wonderful it is to have mutual interests. Anyway, there is still much to be done in Rozaniela, and as it's queen, it is my duty to ensure the safety of my citizens and my planet. But if the situation calls for it, I'd be more than happy to help you girls out at any time."

"That'd be great," Kyoya said. "I can't help much, but I'll do what I can."

"This mission will not be easy. In fact, your lives will be put in jeopardy. Scratch that, not just your lives, but the lives of Earth's civilians as well. Are you willing to put your lives on the line for the preservation of two worlds, even if it means finding yourself knocking on death's door?" Queen Malgorzata asked solemnly as she stood up.

"I wouldn't say we're willing, but we've already been roped into this, so we'll at least try to stop Zenjin and his adoptive parents from hurting everyone or doing God knows what. You have our word," Marina told the somber queen solemnly as she made a military-esque salute. Everyone else nodded.

"Thank you all. By the way...you there," Malgorzata told them gratefully until she bent down a bit to get a better look at Riko, who proceeded to frightfully hide behind Kyoya's wheelchair. Marina groaned. "You're Tasogare-san, right? Will you be so kind as to come closer? I haven't gotten a good look at you."

Riko wanted to go back to Earth now. She continued to shyly hide behind Kyoya's wheelchair frightfully. Why is a Queen so interested in her? Riko really couldn't see why a queen of an entire planet would want to be interested in someone as plain, stupid, abnormal, incompetent, incapable, clumsy, ugly, and weird as her. She's just a commoner while the silver haired woman is a queen of an entire planet? Why would she be interested in her?

"It's okay. She's not bad," Kyoya whispered kindly.

"But she's a Queen! I'm not worthy to be in her presence!" Riko whispered back. All of a sudden, she found something gripping her arm and forcefully pulling her to her feet, in full view of the curious, beautiful, silver haired, Native American dressed queen. It was Marina.

"Come on! Talk to her! It's not that hard!" Marina demanded, but Riko pried her arm off and ran behind Kyoya's wheelchair again.

"Don't force her to do something she doesn't want to, Marina. If she doesn't want to, then don't make such a big deal out of it," Hotaru told her kindly but sternly.

"Yeah, but if someone wants to talk to her, then she has to at least acknowledge her! It's rude to just brush someone off, especially if it's a Queen of an entire planet!" Marina snapped.

"She's not trying to be rude. She's just shy. Those are two different things," Kyoya told her bluntly.

What they didn't know is that Riko actually did approach Malgorzata, who finally took notice when she saw the short haired girl shyly standing in front of her, looking down at the grass, averting all eye contact. Her hands are in front of her, bound together by her fingers, squeezing each other so hard they look like they're about to go white. The Queen didn't have to look into Riko's eyes to figure out that she's clearly anxious and shy. It doesn't help that she's standing in a bit of an awkward and rigid way. But she paid it no mind. She kneeled down to Riko's level.

"My, you're quite cute," Malgorzata said.

Riko shook her head violently. "No I'm not," She muttered in a low voice.

"Look at someone when they talk to you, and you're supposed to say thank you when someone compliments you!" Marina yelled.

'_I know that!'_ Riko yelled in her head, and she wanted to yell it out loud, but Kyoya already beat her to it.

"Will you calm down?! You're making it sound like she's being a brat! She's probably just shy! It's not every day we commoners get to meet a real life queen!" Kyoya shouted back, not happy with the way Marina is interpreting Riko's shyness. Saki told him that autistic people have trouble interacting with people socially and in ways that are considered appropriate, and because they don't know how to socialize properly, people interpret what they do as rude or mean when they're really not, and have to be taught from scratch. He made a mental note to tell Marina about Autism someday. She's going to need it if she wants to be Riko's friend.

"I don't mind," Malgorzata said. "Anyway, I'm sorry you have to be involved in this mess. But I hope you'll do the best you can. I'm sure you'll be a fine Pretty Cure."

"Thanks, your royal majesty," Riko muttered dubiously. _'She obviously hasn't the way I screwed up my first mission and the people hating me for it,'_ Riko thought. The memory of her first battle against a Corrupt Sentinel was strong in her mind, especially the hateful and choleric reception she got upon defeating it.

"Please, call me Queen or Mal," Malgorzata said.

"No! My mom says it's rude and inappropriate to call a grown up by their first name!" Riko exclaimed, louder this time, with a worried look on her face, like she said something she shouldn't have. Marina facepalmed.

"We have to get going now. Thank you for telling us everything," Hotaru said.

"Not a problem," Malgorzata told her kindly, then looked at the fairies. "I'd arrange for you to see your parents, but they're awfully busy at this time."

"It's okay, Queen. We're just happy you and everyone else are okay," Starbeam said.

"Umm...before we leave, is it okay if I hang around here for a while?" Moonbeam asked shyly.

"How come?" Sunbeam asked.

"I want to see if one of my friends is okay," Moonbeam replied sheepishly, her cheeks turning cotton candy pink.

"Which one?" Starbeam asked. Moonbeam flitted over to her and whispered in her ear. "Okay then. I understand."

"You all go on ahead. I'll catch up to you later," Moonbeam told them.

"But how will you be able to get back to Earth?" Kyoya asked, confused.

"The spell can be done individually, so it's okay," Moonbeam replied reassuringly.

"Okay then. Let us know when you get back, okay?" Lovebeam said. Moonbeam nodded.

The Queen said goodbye to her sisters and the kids as they cast the spell, opening the portal and sucking them all in, taking them back to Earth sans Moonbeam. The purple bunny fairy flitted away to look around for the friend she's worrying about. She didn't know how far she flew, but the further she flew, the more rubble and destroyed homes she came across. People are still digging through debris looking for survivors. Others are on their knees, wailing passionately over the corpses of their loved ones, covered with plain white sheets. Moonbeam didn't like the sight of the covered corpses and people crying, so she looked away. She hoped in her heart that her friend hasn't met that fate yet.

Soon, she came within the vicinity of a small school building. A one storied, brick building with a silver roof, very diminutive, and yet it's still standing. Moonbeam read the sign in front of it: _Fairy School #6, Elementary Divison_. She couldn't believe it. Her school is still standing! She thought it had been destroyed, but now that it's still here, maybe...Moonbeam found a glimmer of hope rising in her heart. She decided to go inside. The inside of the school is heavily occupied by both humans and fairies of her own size. She could see humans giving away free bowls of warm soup to both people and fairies, wrapped in thick wooly blankets. Others are dabbing injuries with medicine or alcohol.

One particular fairy happened to be wrapping gauze around an injured child's arm. The fairy is a very pale green color, with pointed ears that have dark blue tips on them. The fairy's eyes are a rich, chocolate brown color, he's wearing a dark purple cape, his tail is pale green with dark blue stripes with a dark blue point at the end, the tips of his arms and legs are dark blue, and he has a huge, diamond shaped mark on top of his head that's also midnight blue. As soon as Moonbeam laid her sterling silver eyes on the fairy, they sparkled with delight, and she found herself fluttering toward him in a frenzy.

"Patch!" Moonbeam called out. The green fairy with the purple cape, Patch, turned around to find Moonbeam flying toward him. As soon as he laid his own chocolate brown eyes on her, his own eyes sparkled with delight, and a radiant smile consumed the bottom half of his face.

"Moonbeam! You're okay!" As soon as he finished wrapping the child's wound with gauze, he flitted over to the purple bunny fairy and glomped her. As soon as they made contact, they danced and frolicked in the air happily, relieved to finally be able to see each other.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried something bad might have happened to you!" Patch exclaimed in a sweet, boyish sounding voice.

"I could say the same to you! I'm sorry I haven't been able to contact you with the ComLap," Moonbeam told her dear friend gratefully. Some tears appeared at the corners of her eyes, but she ignored them.

"That's okay. Things have been pretty hectic around here anyway, so even if we could communicate with the ComLap or our walkie talkies, I'd be too busy to tell you much. By the way, where have you been since the incident?" Patch told her while patting some dust out of his cape.

"Get this! My sisters and I are on Earth, and we found the warriors who can stop Zenjin! Pretty Cure!" Moonbeam told him enthusiastically.

"What?! No way!"

"It's true! I'd introduce you to them, but they all went back home. I just wanted to check and see if you're alright."

"I'm fine. Flicker and Mimosa are too! Unfortunately…" Patch's ears drooped downward, and he became downcast. To Moonbeam, this meant something terrible happened to someone. But what? And to who? A dark shadow of despair already hung over most of the planet.

"What happened?" Moonbeam asked with concern peppering her sweet voice.

"Mimosa's mom and baby sisters are all dead," Patch muttered somberly. Moonbeam's sterling silver eyes grew wide in a millisecond, and her hands flew to her mouth, but an audible gasp could be heard regardless. "Flicker's dad died, too, along with SugarBelle, TrixieBelle, and Puff."

"That's awful!" Moonbeam yelped, unable to comprehend what Patch just told her. Her friends' loved ones are dead, along with three of their classmates! Moonbeam could picture their sweet, tender hearted, flower loving friend hearing the awful news, bursting into loud but grim wails, and probably latching onto whoever was within her vicinity, probably Flicker, who would cry with her. But knowing Flicker, he'd hide his grief and just help out with whatever's needed until he found a private place to cry out his woes all by himself. Even though he's usually show-offy and slightly full of himself, he always thought about others when the situation called for it, even at the expense of letting himself rest and just be sad. "Where are they now?"

"Not here. Mimosa's with her dad down south, and Flicker and his mom are staying with his aunt for the time being," Patch told her sadly.

Moonbeam's ears drooped downward, just like Patch's. Her heart became a sea of sorrow, yearning to offer at least some comfort to her grief-stricken friends. "I see. I'd love to visit them right now, but they're probably far away, and I don't have their contact information."

"I could get it for you. I'm actually planning on visiting them some time in the next few weeks, so I can give you the info via ComLap and if you're free, you can talk to them or even stop by," Patch told her reassuringly.

"Thank you, Patch. You don't know how much I appreciate your generosity," Moonbeam told him gratefully, which made him chuckle a bit and rub one of his ears.

"Aw, shucks, it's nothing, really. I've kinda been all over the place digging in broken houses, helping with the rescue efforts, giving clothes from the Ladies' Aid Society to whoever needs them, all that stuff. But your job is probably much harder, making sure whoever did all of this doesn't cause any trouble, so I totally understand."

"I know who did all of this. Do you remember that boy Zenjin?"

"Yeah! I do! Didn't Sunbeam want to be his friend?"

Moonbeam told him everything that happened: Zenjin stealing the Energia, using it to destroy 80% of Rozaniela and a huge number of its inhabitants as a test run to see what it was capable of, fleeing to Earth, stealing people's souls and corrupting them, Decebal helping him out when he really shouldn't, and, most of all, stomping on Sunbeam's heart and mercilessly, cruelly, and outright maliciously ripping it to pieces with the mean things he said to her, along with the nightmares, crying fits, and the colds she would have as a result of the damage done to her mental state. Grinding his teeth with rage, Patch punched the air.

"Why that ungrateful, no good-! If I ever see that silver haired psycho, I'm gonna sock him so hard in the mouth it'd wake up his dentist!" Patch found himself exploding with rage, albeit to a mild degree for the sake of the injured and sick people taking refuge in the school. But oh, how he yearned to track Zenjin down and give him some well deserved comeuppance for being so cruel to the fairy who went way out of her way to be nice to him and give him everything his abusive guardian deprived him of.

"Believe me, you're not the only one who wants to," Moonbeam said, agreeing with him, even though she prefers not starting any fights. But the memory of that day and Sunbeam's tearful response to his cruelty was strong in her mind.

"Sunbeam even got in trouble for his sake! What did she do to deserve that?! She did everything for him yet he has the nerve to discard her like trash!" Patch yelled. He wanted to kick something, punch something, break something. Anything.

"I know, right?"

Patch took a deep breath and exhaled, pacifying himself and containing what's left of his rage. "Well, I'm at least glad you and your sisters are alright physically. I wish I could go to Earth with you and comfort Sunbeam. But things are busy right now, and my parents and I have a lot to do, so...tell her and the others I said hi. Okay?"

"I will. Tell Mimosa, Flicker, and the others we say hi, too," Moonbeam said before embracing Patch in a warm, loving hug. Without any hesitation, Patch hugged her back, hoping to have comforted her somewhat.

"You take care. Okay?"

"I will. Try not to push yourself too hard to the point of getting sick. I know you have a tendency to do that."

"I don't do it that much."

"Okay then. Bye, Patch!"

"Bye, Moonbeam! If I see your parents I'll tell them you're okay!"

With that, Moonbeam waved goodbye to her friend, flew out of the school, cast the portal opening spell, and returned to Earth, where hoping her sisters and the kids are waiting for her. In her heart, she wished she could have seen her parents, but knowing they're alive was a big enough relief, so maybe next time.

* * *

In another part of Japan, on a particularly beautiful sandy beach with soft, white sand, albeit scorching hot to the touch, the ocean sparkling underneath the afternoon sunshine, and gorgeous, cloudless skies overhead, Beileag sat on a long beach bench, allowing her skin to drink up some of the sun's rays. She's wearing a pretty, petite one piece bathing suit that's dark green with some white and pale blue ruffles on various parts of it, along with a pair of pink sunglasses where both lenses are shaped like hearts. Her indigo hair is still kept in her favorite long pig tails with green scrunchies. She's lying on her pink and yellow beach bench, drinking what appears to be a cotton candy pink strawberry smoothie through a straw.

"Gathering information is harder than I thought. I couldn't find anything all day! Oh well. At least soaking up some sunshine will take my stress away a little bit. But seriously, I really don't know how these Earthlings can survive being surrounded by those tall buildings and bustling around in groups and all that stuff. Plus they're so obsessed with their cell phones and technology and everything!" Beileag mused to herself before drinking more of her strawberry smoothie. "All these people do is stare at screens, even on the go! I'm surprised they haven't gone blind by now."

Once she finished her smoothie, she put the empty cup down next to her and sat back into her beach bench and folded her hands behind her head. "It's so easy for people to forget the more important things in life, like soaking up some sunshine, looking beautiful, and-"

"Gathering much needed info!"

"GYAK!" Beileag yelped the minute she heard that familiar, squeaky voice. She leaped out of her beach bench to find a very annoyed and gruff looking Zenjin, complete with a flushed red face and snot dangling from his nose, eyeing her with a disappointed look. "Zenjin?! Shouldn't you be in your fortress?! You'll get sick if you're outside!"

"I'm bored to death! Plus I figured you'd slack off and be the usual featherbrained idiot you are! Why aren't you out there yanking out people's souls and getting info?! Do I have to bash your cranium in for you to understand? Because I will NOT tolerate incompetence, and you're incompetent regardless!"

"Look, you, I've been trying to look for information for four hours straight! I've only been here for the past half hour anyway! You don't have to make a big deal out of everything I do, y'know! And for the record, I am NOT incompetent! I may love Decebal, but I don't like those sexist ideas you're getting from him! You'll never get a girlfriend if you keep acting the way you do!" Beileag yelled, only to be completely not cognizant of the fact that Zenjin is staring at the ocean as though he's in a trance. Soon, Beileag got the message. "Hello?! Are you in Lala-land or something? Wake up!" Beileag snapped her fingers in front of him.

"The ocean."

"Yes, it's beautiful. I get that. Finally, you're coming to appreciate the beauty of-"

"No! The ocean! I went to a school that was near the ocean!" Zenjin exclaimed, louder this time.

"You did?"

"Yes. I never went there long, but it was near a beach."

"Do you remember the name of the school? What city the school was in?"

"No. I've forgotten a lot of things since Decebal rescued me."

"I'm not surprised. Good thing you remembered, since maybe once I'm done getting a tan, I can try finding the names of all the schools in Japan that are near a beach."

"Yes. That'd be great."

* * *

"Uuugh!" Marina groaned as she plopped onto her bed, scattering some slightly tattered and well used notebooks full of self written song lyrics onto the carpet on her floor. "I need to stop flipping out over the smallest things!" She said to herself, remembering earlier when she scolded Riko for being shy in front of Queen Malgorzata. _'I really need to stop getting mad over stupid stuff. Why do I always keep yelling at Riko? She doesn't deserve that! She's not like everyone else, and that should be a good thing!'_ She thought before letting out an exasperated sigh. _'I shouldn't be so critical. After all, she's the first person to actually _not_ believe all that garbage about me growing up to be his clone just because I'm his daughter. I should be happy! Friends don't yell at each other or criticize their imperfections...'_ She thought as she continued to lay on her bed and stare at the ceiling listlessly.

She wished she could loosen up a little and not be so uptight about everything. She couldn't believe she thought Riko was being rude and arrogant when she was only shy and nervous about being around a queen, nothing else. Even Marina was shocked at how she acted. Since when did she care about people's behavior in public? And why does she always misinterpret what Riko does? Yeah, she found it rather weird that she talks so much about cartoons on a regular basis, flaps her hands like crazy whenever she's excited, sometimes says and does inappropriate things, and occasionally does something stupid, but it's not like she's hurting anyone. In fact, during their fights with the Corrupt Sentinels, everything she did was out of a desire to help out, even though it occasionally went haywire at times. She looks like the kind of person who wouldn't hurt a fly, because if she were a truly bad person, she wouldn't have become a Pretty Cure at all. Marina sighed again and grabbed what appears to be a bright yellow stress ball made to look like a tennis ball. She squeezed it with all the strength she could muster in her hand.

"I'm going to have to work on being a better friend. I can't just go around yelling at people all the time, especially when they're trying to be nice and helpful. I'll ask Muroto-sensei at my next anger management class this Tuesday," Marina mused to herself.

As she said that, another thought popped in her mind. She has so much anger pent up in her. She should take it all out on someone who truly deserves it!

Someone like _him_, maybe.


	13. Friends Are The Best Confidants!

Chapter 13: Everyone Has Secrets! Friends Are The Best Confidants!

"Hey, girls. Wanna come to my house tomorrow?" Kyoya asked out of the blue a few minutes after the crew came back from Rozaniela, Moonbeam about a few minutes afterward. Riko turned around with surprise as soon as she heard it, which isn't surprising, since it was so random.

"What brought that on?" Riko asked, confused.

"My physical therapist had to go out of town this weekend, so tomorrow's session is cancelled," Kyoya explained.

"I'd like to, but my parents work on the weekends. But I'll ask when I get home," Riko said.

"I'm not doing anything special, so I'll come," Anzu said.

"Same here," Marina said.

"Me too. I don't get to hang out with you all very often, so I might as well seize the opportunity in front of me," Hotaru piped in with a sweet smile.

"That'd be fun!" Sunbeam piped in.

Kyoya pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Riko. "Here's my home address," Kyoya said as Riko gingerly look the paper. It read _62593 Tobe Avenue_ in slightly messy hand written hiragana. Some of the led smeared on the paper a bit. "My house is a cobalt blue color with a grey roof and a wheelchair ramp built into the porch. I have some paper on me but I forgot to bring a pen."

"I have one. Here," Hotaru said, handing Kyoya a purple and silver ballpoint pen.

"Thanks!" Kyoya exclaimed happily as he yanked out a big piece of paper, tore it up into three pieces, and scribbled his home address on all three of them. Once he finished, he handed the pieces to Anzu, Hotaru, and Marina.

"Thanks," The three girls told him gratefully.

"Are we gonna play games over here?" Lovebeam asked.

"I have a Jenga box I can bring with me. I used to play it a lot with Niichan, but he's a lot busier now, so I usually just play with Rina, and she's no fun," Riko piped in.

"Jenga?! I love that game!" Moonbeam squealed happily.

"Me too!" Anzu piped in.

"Oh! I can bring my Nintendo DS and my Pokemon games too!" Riko exclaimed. "But again, I have to ask my parents if I can go or not."

"That's okay. Let me know when you get an answer, okay, Ri-chan?" Kyoya said with a smile. Riko nodded, hugged him, and walked all the way back home, followed by everyone else. Starbeam followed Riko home this time.

Riko didn't have trouble getting home from where she was. The park was reasonably close to her house, and she and Arinao went on a lot of walks heading there. Not only that, she has her own house key, which is a very deep shape of plum purple with white flower designs painted on it, with a cute little white Moomin cell phone charm dangling from it (yes, cell phone charms can be used as keychains. I checked). She put the key in the hole, turned it the way Saki taught her, and pushed the door open.

"I'm back-AHH!" Riko called out until she stepped on something plastic and fell on the hard, wooden floor with a big thud. "Owwww!" Riko cried out after she fell. She isn't seriously hurt, but the front of her body pulsated after she struggled to pull herself up. She looked down at her foot and found a pretty Barbie doll dressed in a pretty purple dress.

"Riko! Are you okay?!" Hikage yelped as he and Saki came to the front door, their faces covered with blankets of worry and concern, to find Riko sitting on the floor, holding the culprit in her hands.

"Yeah. I slipped on this," Riko showed them the Barbie doll as she looked in the living room to find Rina sitting on the living room floor with a plethora of Barbie and Ken dolls scattered all around her, lying face up, face down, and in many other positions. Small, doll sized dresses, shoes, toy animals, and a Barbie beetle car also surrounded her. "Rina! You can't just leave your dolls all over the place! I just tripped on one of them!"

"Why do you have to be so dumb? I can do whatever I want," Rina piped in irritably but insouciantly, more concerned about whether the Barbie in her hand's hair is brushed than the fact that Riko tripped and could have been seriously hurt. Without waiting for Saki to scold her, Riko stood up and stomped over to Rina, angrily yanking the doll out of her hands. "Hey! That's mine!" Rina shouted.

"No! No, you CANNOT do whatever you want! Mom clearly said you can't just leave your toys all over the place, especially near the front door or other places where people could trip or get hurt, like I almost did! It's a rule, and you broke it! Now pick up this mess and play in your room!" Riko scolded angrily, appalled by her sister's insouciant attitude.

"It's not my fault it's over there!" Rina yelled before crossing her arms.

"Yes it is! It's not always someone else's fault, y'know! Why can't you actually be responsible for once and do what you're told?!" Riko snapped angrily, her face turning beet red. She really had to wonder what made Rina so selfish, bratty, and spoiled with that attitude of hers and the fact that she's more concerned about brushing a toy doll's hair than admitting she dropped it in front of the front door and didn't pick it up.

"MOOOM! Riko's being mean to me!" Rina shouted in her highest voice possible, causing the already choleric Riko to cover her ears in fright, not that it helped. This only made Riko's anger boil even more.

'_I am not, you little brat!'_ Riko yelled in her head.

"Rina. Pick up your toys and go to your room. You're grounded for a week, and as of now, you'll be in time out for ten minutes," Saki told her sternly, pointing to the stairs.

"But that's not fair!" Rina whined.

"Do you think it's fair that Riko could have gotten seriously hurt because you left your toys in places they're not supposed to be in? What if she fell and hit her head on the stairs? She could have cracked her skull open and she'd bleed to death," Saki asked sternly, not once losing her cool. Rina, knowing it was futile to contradict her mother, even though she oh so badly wanted to, she stood up and proceeded to pick up all of her Barbie toys. Once she finished, she took them all into her room and stayed there. Saki shed her angry face and set Riko down on a dining room chair to check if there are any bruises or lacerations on Riko's body.

"Does it hurt anywhere? Did you sprain your leg? Do you need any ice? I have some band aids in the cupboard somewhere," Saki said worriedly as Riko looked all over herself for any scratches or bruises. Other than her elbows, left knee, and palms being redder than usual from making sudden contact with the floor, nothing is open, bleeding, bruised, or anything.

"No. I'm good," Riko replied. Her anger didn't simmer much, but she's at least happy Saki doesn't like the way Rina behaved and broke the rules. But the question was dying to come out, so she decided to ask. "Hey, Mom? Kyo-chan asked if I wanted to go to his house tomorrow," It never hurts to ask, right? But Riko didn't think Saki would say yes. Both Saki and Arinao work on the weekends. On different shifts during different times of the day, yes, but it's still work, and there's the rule about not having friends over when their parents aren't home, especially when they're alone in the house. Riko assumed Saki would say no and move on. Or even say 'we'll see,' which, to Riko, is usually a fancy, vague way of saying no, and that made her blood boil quite a lot, as Riko doesn't like vague answers. "I know you have work tomorrow, so…"

"I don't see why not," Saki said as she put some coffee in the coffee maker on the counter.

"Huh?!" Riko yelped.

"Sure. Do you know his home address?"

"Yes…" Riko replied, not quite able to comprehend Saki's approval. Is she seriously allowing Riko to go to a friend's house on a day when both of her parents have to work? She handed Saki the paper with Kyoya's home address on it.

"I know where this is! Okay then. I'll drop you off at his house, but I'll have to pick you up by five because I have to make dinner and take a shower before work. Is that okay?" Saki said.

"Yaaaaaay! Thank you thank you thank you!" Riko squealed with delight as she hugged Saki once again and gave her a massively gratitude filled kiss on the cheek. "You're awesome, Mom! I love you!" When Riko was done squeezing her, she began jumping around the living room happily while flapping her hands up and down rapidly at the same time. Then she spun around a bit like a top before stopping and picking up the phone to call Kyoya.

"Kyo-chan? It's Riko! Mom said yes! What time do you want me to be there? My mom's usually up by eleven...is that okay? Sure! That'd be great! But Mom's gonna pick me up before five because she leaves for work at 6:30 PM and before that she's gotta make dinner. Sure! That's perfect! I'll see you tomorrow! Bye! Yaaaaay!" Once Riko hung up the phone, she cheered joyfully and was about to jump around the living room again until she stopped. "Ack! I better get my homework done so I don't have to worry about it! I'll do it right now!"

"Indoor voice," Saki told her, but Riko paid no heed as she rushed to her backpack to pull out her homework and whatever books she needs to work on it.

Upstairs, Rina could hear Riko's jumping around and cheering, and that made her grab one of her Barbie dolls and throw it at her dresser with a grunt. The poor Barbie doll bounced off of the dresser and onto the floor, causing one of it's arms to pop off. "Can't someone shut her up?! It's bad enough she does that whenever we go outside!" Rina exclaimed as she looked at her poor, dismembered Barbie doll. She then found herself lost in her mind. _'She's stupid and dumb! That's what she is! She'll be a baby forever, even when she grows up! But...why does she have friends and not me?'_ Rina thought as she buried her face in her hands. No, she's not crying.

* * *

"Hey Mom! I'm back!" Marina said out loud as she walked through the door, only to find her mom on the phone.

"Oh, thank you so much! I really appreciate this! Bye!" Marina's mom, Hatoko, said cheerfully as she pressed the END button on her phone and hung it up. Marina found herself frozen at the entrance. Her mom is actually cheerful? When was this? She hasn't seen Hatoko be cheerful in a very long time. This is quite unlike her. Hatoko continued to be cheerful and jovial even as she saw Marina at the entrance, her eyes and smile so bright and so infectious they were practically blinding.

"Mari-chan! Mari-chan! Mari-chan! I have great news! You're going to love it!" Hatoko exclaimed joyfully as she hopped in front of her flabbergasted daughter. "I got a promotion!"

"A...promo what?"

"A promotion! I'm being transferred to a higher position in my job! I'm getting a huge raise, too!" Hatoko explained cheerfully, her face glowing with joy, something that was quite alien to Marina. "You know how I always work two jobs so I can pay the bills and keep you fed and clothed? Well, this new position will offer me more money than what I usually make at both jobs combined! I'll be able to quit my second job! Best of all, they're giving me a paid vacation for an entire month starting this Monday! Paid! Can you believe it?!"

Although Marina was quite unable to comprehend Hatoko's cheerfulness and most of what she said, she managed to get the gist of it, and even she caught a little bit of her mother's exuberant joy. "Wow...that's so great, Mom!"

"I know, right?! I know you've been lonely because of my working two jobs, and I've always felt awful about it. But things will be easier now! Not only am I going into an easier position making more money than ever, I get to spend an entire month with you!"

Marina felt her heart go warm the minute she said that. An entire month to spend with her single mother. Oh, this promotion is a God send. Mother and daughter time. Marina's been dying to have this wish fulfilled for a long time. Marina trapped her overly exuberant mother in a tight embrace, stopping her from palavering on some more. But with a soft smile painting her radiant face, Hatoko hugged Marina back, stroking her back with her hand, her motherly heart aglow with happiness she never thought she could have. "I'm so happy for you, Mom. Congratulations," Marina muttered into her mother's chest. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie," Hatoko said. Marina released her from the embrace. No longer is Marina the typically sullen, brooding, moody girl from Riko's first day of school. A smile literally made Marina's face light up in a way she never thought she could accomplish before. But a thought still wiggled around in her mind like a worm in a glass tube. "I have an idea! Since I'm on paid vacation for the entire month, is there anything you'd like to do together? Like go to the movies? A baseball game? A concert? I know you love concerts. You've been managing your behavior a lot better in school, and your grades have improved, so you deserve it."

"Jeez, Mom. One at a time. This is all so random I can't think straight!" Marina said with her hands up in the air like she's being arrested. Hatoko sighed and calmed down.

"Sorry. It's been so long since we've spent any real time together, and I know how hard it's been on you. I feel bad that we never get to spend any time together," Hatoko told her warmly.

"I know."

Marina didn't want to put a damper on Hatoko's newfound happiness. In fact, she's happy that Hatoko's happy. Hatoko hasn't been truly happy in a long time. But she deserves to be happy. Marina knew this for a fact. She knew her previous behavior at school never made Hatoko happy, and things are actually looking up now that she's stopped being a bully and a jerk to people. She has friends now, friends who don't care about her family background, even though she was previously cruel to them in the past. In fact, there's lots of things Marina wants to do, like go to a baseball game, a Blue Moon concert, or the movies. However, the thought in her mind wouldn't go away, and an opportunity to voice it presented itself. Marina knew in her heart of hearts that it would definitely make Hatoko sad. But she had to try. If she didn't, all the anger she has in her heart will never be directed at the person who she felt truly deserves it.

No turning back now.

"Actually, Mom...there is something I'd like to do. But...you won't like it. It's not fun," Marina muttered softly.

"I won't like it? What do you mean? Tell me, sweetie. What would you like to do?" Hatoko asked.

"Can we...can we...go see him?" Marina finally blurted out at last.

"See who?" Hatoko asked, not getting what Marina is talking about.

"You know who."

Finally, Hatoko figured it out, and as Marina predicted, the radiant glow on her face literally vanished in the blink of an eye. "Do you mean...No! Absolutely not!"

"Mom. I've been thinking about this for a long time. I think I finally know why I've been so angry all the time. Maybe...if we go and actually face him, we might be able to finally put him behind us. I feel-"

"No! Absolutely not! No no no! I can't! I just can't face that man!" Hatoko screamed hysterically as she ran to the couch and sat on it like a scared child. As Marina expected, Hatoko's cheerfulness left like it was never there in the first place, being replaced with absolutely nothing but naked fear. Marina always knew when her mother was scared out of her mind.

"Mom. I know you don't like it, but...I think it's high time we faced him once and for all! If we have the courage to face him and tell him how we feel, we might be able to finally show him that we're not afraid of him anymore-" Marina tried to persuade her, but Hatoko was not having it.

"You're only able to say that because you haven't been through what I have!" Hatoko screamed hysterically, causing Marina to take a few steps back frightfully. Hatoko's voice didn't sound like it belonged to her. Even she was surprised at how hysterical her voice sounds, but she continued on. "That man took away everything I have! He ruined me from the inside out! It's his fault I'm always living in fear! He raped me! He grabbed me out of nowhere and defiled me for two whole hours while he laughed it all off, and no matter how many times I said no and told him to stop, he said, _'your body likes it, so yer words mean nothing!'_ He didn't even get arrested when I told the police about it, and the only reason he got arrested in the first place was because someone caught him raping a five year old girl, killing her, and stuffing her corpse in a drainage ditch when she threatened to tell on him! I can't face him! I just can't! If I do, he'll do it again!"

"But Mom! Don't you want to be free of him once and for all?" Marina asked, trying not to be fazed by her mother's fear and hysteria. "And he won't do it again! He's in jail, isn't he? He'll be under surveillance or something! You should totally tell him all of that! Tell him everything you're telling me! That's why I want to see him, so I can show him that I'm not afraid of him! Don't you want to be happy? Don't you want to show him that he didn't beat you? You can't let him control you anymore!"

It's here that Hatoko finally stopped yelling. Marina couldn't help but pity the woman sitting on the couch like a mortally frightened child. Truth be told, she has every right to be scared. After what that man did to her, who wouldn't be? She's been through horrible things. Marina always knew her mother had something horrible done to her, because whenever she had a bad day, she would come home looking like she didn't eat for days, with bags under her eyes, her arms nothing but skin and bones. She would wake up in tears, sniveling and sobbing. Other times, Marina woke up in the middle of the night to the horrible sound of her mother screaming. To be more specific, she would scream things like, _'No! NOO! Stop! Get off of me! Help! Leave me alone!'_ She remembered the times they would go see a psychologist and Marina would play in the waiting room for an hour, reading books and playing with the toys there. Marina always felt bad that she could never do anything to make her feel better or make her happy. Marina knew her suggestion to go see the man who did this to her would make her scared and sad. But what if it could help her heal and free herself from the man's control once and for all?

"Oh...I'm sorry, Mari-chan. I'm sorry. I didn't...mean to yell…" Hatoko said as she sat up and wiped some tears out of her eyes. Marina sat down next to her and put a warm, reassuring hand on her shoulder, hoping it would comfort her even just a little bit.

"Mom. I'm sorry. I know you're scared, and I don't want to make you sad. But...I think this might be good for us. You have things you really want to get off your chest, don't you?" Marina told her softly as Hatoko wiped more tears out of her eyes. Soon, a soft smile appeared on her face amidst the tears.

"I sure am an idiot. I'm your mother, and it's my job to raise you and encourage you to be brave...and yet here you are comforting me like I'm the child…"

"You're not an idiot. You're brave and strong. You survived, didn't you? You've come this far all on your own, didn't you? That shows that he hasn't beaten you. If you can do this much, then you just might be able to do this…" Marina told her reassuringly in a soft voice.

Hatoko's smile faded again. Marina's face became soft but grim. Perhaps she made a mistake in suggesting they do this. "You know what, just forget it. I'm being selfish again, as usual. Sorry, I-"

"No. You're absolutely right. I can't keep living in fear anymore. I may be broken and defiled, but...I'm going to have to face him and my inner demons eventually. Why not now? Maybe something good will come out of this, like you say. I'll call the county jail tomorrow and see if I can arrange something," Hatoko said, with a glint of courage sparkling in her previously tear stained eyes. "But for now...do you want to go out for dinner tonight? I know a good place that makes awesome steak! And they have a great dessert menu, too!"

Marina nodded without question. "Great idea!"

* * *

Sunday finally arrived. Riko couldn't wait to hang out with Kyoya, and the day finally came. Saki dropped Riko off in front of the cobalt blue house with the grey roof that Kyoya described. The numbers on it say 62593, and this is definitely Tobe Avenue. Saki stayed in the car on the street, not wanting to leave until Riko went in safely. Riko trotted up the wheelchair ramp, which isn't very high, and pressed her finger on the doorbell. _Bong bong_. It took a couple seconds, but Kyoya answered the door, and his face lit up when he saw Riko.

"Hey! Welcome to la casa de Mitomo!" Kyoya proclaimed cheerfully as he opened the front door wide and welcomed Riko inside. But she didn't go in right off.

"Your house isn't an umbrella(1)," Riko said.

"No no! See, the word I used is a Spanish word. The word casa, if you spell it with a C instead of a K, it becomes the Spanish word for house," Kyoya explained kindly.

"Ohhh! I see! Sorry about that."

"It's okay. I just wanted to-"

"Waah?!" Riko found something gently push her, but it felt a little hard and made her take a few steps away from the door.

She turned around to find something she never expected to see behind her. A tall, lean, big St. Bernard dog, almost as tall as she is, with moderately long, floppy dark brown ears, a white face with dark brown marks dotting it, a white body with lots of brown spots on it, skinny white legs, and a happily wagging brown and white tail going left and right at a rapid pace. It's face is extremely large, about the size of an old computer monitor, with small, innocent blue eyes. An emerald green leash dangled from his green collar.

"Where'd you come from?" Riko asked as Kyoya burst into a paroxysm of merry laughter. Saki did as well.

"That's Hondo, my neighbor's dog. He's always running off and meeting new people. Don't worry. He's super sweet and friendly. I've walked him a few times," Kyoya said through his laughter. Riko looked down at the big St. Bernard, Hondo, who had a look in his eyes that said, 'I wanna play!'

"In that case...you're so cute!" Riko chirped, her surprise dissipating, as she decided to put down her Jenga box and pet the big St. Bernard on his big head. The dog just sat there as Riko happily pet it, enjoying the love and affection he's receiving.

"Hondo! There you are, you big lug!" A woman exclaimed as she ran on the sidewalk and caught up to the big St. Bernard dog. She looks to be in her early sixties, with long greying brown hair streaming down to her shoulders, wearing a pink shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

"Is he yours?" Riko asked.

"Yes. Sorry about that. When he gets excited about something, I can't get a hold of him. He didn't scare you, did he?" The woman asked sheepishly.

"Not at all. He's adorable!" Riko chirped sweetly as she snuggled Hondo some more.

"Hi, Mukai-san! This is my best friend, Tasogare Riko," Kyoya introduced Riko to the lady, Mukai. Riko, suddenly realizing she's in front of someone, became rigid.

"Hi...it's...nice to...meet you…" Riko muttered like a robot. Hondo gently nudged her, which made her body relax.

"Is this the friend you've been telling me about? She's cute!" Mrs. Mukai said with a smile. Riko paid her no heed, as she continued to pet Hondo, who seemed to enjoy the attention. Saki drove away, leaving Riko and Kyoya with Mrs. Mukai and Hondo. Mrs. Mukai picked up Hondo's leash.

"We'd better get going now. It's nice to meet you, Riko-chan! Bye!" Mrs. Mukai said as she gently took Hondo's leash as they walked away.

"Bye, Hondo!" Riko cried out happily.

Riko and Kyoya walked inside, where they were greeted by Kayoko and Jiroemon, Kyoya's parents. Riko, while still a bit timid, isn't as shy with them as she was when Kyoya was dropped off at her house when he came over. They first began by playing Pokemon together as a way to pass the time before Anzu, Marina, and Hotaru get here. Riko lost to Kyoya. Finally, the door bell rang again. Kyoya went to get it, and there he found Hotaru, Anzu, and Marina, with the fairies.

"Hey, Kyoya-kun!" Anzu piped in.

"Come on in!" Kyoya said as he invited them inside.

"Your house is cool," Marina piped in.

"It sure is," Sunbeam piped in, but with a whisper as she doesn't want Kayoko and Jiroemon to find out she's a talking fairy.

Hotaru introduced herself and everyone else to Kyoya's parents. Although they seemed surprised, they're happy that Kyoya has more friends. But Marina could tell from looking at Kayoko that she isn't too keen on having her here. Marina didn't blame her, as she had good reason for giving her the stinkeye. She's been mean to her kid for quite a few years now, so it's not likely she'd warm up to her, not that Marina ever expected her to from the beginning. But Marina does feel bad about it now. Riko invited them to play Jenga, which they did, and had quite a bit of fun doing it. Sometimes, the Jenga game got pretty tense when anyone tried to pull out a little block without making the whole thing topple over, which definitely happened a lot, mostly with Marina, who would flip out and demand rematches whenever the blocks would scatter all over the place.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Jiroemon asked.

"I'm good," Riko said.

"Me too," Marina said.

"Can I have a glass of water, please?" Anzu asked.

"I notice you have some Snapple. May I ask for one of those?" Hotaru asked.

"Sure! Coming right up!" Jiroemon snapped his fingers with a smile as he grabbed a pink lemonade Snapple for Hotaru, then got a glass of water for Anzu.

"Thank you," Hotaru and Anzu told him politely.

Soon, once the kids finished their drinks, they went to Kyoya's room. Riko stayed behind to make sure Kyoya crawled up the steps without slipping or getting hurt. She couldn't help but be awestruck at how adept he is at doing it even when he says he's still unable to properly walk. He did say he practiced, and she's seen it before, so perhaps he's a lot stronger than she assumed. Once he was up there, she followed him to his room.

"Your room is nice, Kyo-chan," Riko said.

"Thanks," Kyoya replied as Sunbeam hopped on his shoulder.

"Hey fairies? There's something I've been meaning to ask you all," Hotaru said.

"What might your question be, Hotaru-san?" Starbeam asked.

"The Queen mentioned that one of Zenjin's adoptive parents was someone named Beileag. Do you know who that is?" Hotaru asked.

"I've met her. She's Decebal's girlfriend and a fellow actress in his acting troupe. That's actually how they met. She tried out for his acting troupe and fell head over heels over him. But she's extremely flighty, clueless, clumsy, and a real ditz," Moonbeam explained.

"Like every pink haired main character of almost every Pretty Cure anime ever?" Anzu asked sarcastically.

"Pretty much. She also really likes shopping and fashion, like Lovebeam. In fact, just before Zenjin decimated the planet, Queen Malgorzata hired her to be her dress designer," Sunbeam piped in. "Oh, and she dresses like a hippie."

"You mean those hippies from the 1960s who protested stuff like the Vietnam War, drug use, nuclear weapons, and preached about peace and being nice to everyone of all genders and races?" Anzu asked again, not sarcastically this time.

"Sort of," Lovebeam piped in. "I love fashionistas and all, but her style of dress always turned me off. A little too flashy and radiant for my tastes. I do know she hates her real name for some reason and always wants people to call her B-chan or Billie,"

Anzu leaned against one of Kyoya's walls. _'I wonder what it's like to be a hippie? It's gotta be better than putting up with Mom and Dad yelling all the time,'_ Anzu thought to herself silently as she gripped her harmonica in her hand tightly.

"So since Zenjin has the jewel that can do anything and everything, we might have to find out exactly what he, Decebal, and whoever the heck this Beileag girl is, are planning to use it for," Hotaru explained.

"She's right. They could be up to something horrible, like taking over the world!" Kyoya said.

"Taking over the world is so cliche, and if he really wanted to do that, he would have done it by now," Anzu deadpanned.

"Good point," Kyoya said.

"Maybe he's planning revenge? Against the person who abused him," Hotaru pondered out loud.

"That seems pretty likely," Marina said. "If somebody beat me and treated me bad for years without end, I'd probably sic her, too."

"He never did get used to receiving actual love and affection from people. In fact, Zenjin doesn't like being touched in any way. He wouldn't let anybody near him except for Decebal. I tried to hug him once, but he pushed me off like he thought I was trying to eat him," Sunbeam piped in.

"I don't like being touched either, unless it's someone I love," Riko said. "I especially don't like it if their skin feels craggy and they smell bad and wear itchy clothes or they're all sweaty. Ugh!"

"But if he wants revenge, how come he hasn't found his abuser yet?" Marina asked.

"It has been a few years, so maybe she might have moved to a different place and he doesn't know about it. Plus, the Earth is a pretty big place, and Zenjin hasn't been there in a long time, so he won't know his way around," Lovebeam said.

"And what about his adoptive parents? Why are they helping him in all of this? Do they support his cause? Or do they have other motives?" Anzu asked, curious.

"I wish we knew. I only wish the Queen never handed Zenjin to them at all and just raised him herself, that way none of this would have happened," Lovebeam explained sadly, harboring guilt over not being able to provide everyone with the answers they want.

"Why couldn't she raise him herself?" Riko asked.

"She's a Queen! She reigns over an entire planet and shoulders a lot of other responsibilities, like maintaining the planet's peace and giving food, clothes, and love to her many denizens," Starbeam answered.

"Being royalty must suck if you can't do whatever you want," Kyoya said.

After that, the Pretty Cure discussion was adjourned, and they decided to do other things, like watch videos on YouTube (Marina was ecstatic about showing them videos about epic rap battles), read manga, play more Jenga, etc. Soon, Hotaru got a call from her parents telling her it's time to come home, so she left, followed by Anzu, leaving Marina, Riko, and Kyoya.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Okay?" Marina said as she left the bedroom, leaving Riko and Kyoya alone. Don't worry, they're not going to do anything they're not supposed to. They're sitting next to each other, leaning against Kyoya's bed on the floor.

"I've never been invited to someone's house before. I've always dreamed of it, but I never thought it'd actually happen to me until now," Riko told him.

"Are you having fun?" Kyoya asked kindly.

"Of course I am! I haven't had this much fun in forever!"

Kyoya smiled. "Glad to hear it."

A thought wiggled into Riko's head, and she found it to be a good opportunity to release it. "Umm...I know I'm not supposed to ask about stuff like this, but...what was the accident like?"

"Do you mean the car accident?"

Riko nodded.

"Sure. It was about a year and a half ago. We were going up north to visit relatives," Kyoya began.

(flashback)

_Kyoya sat in the back seat of a silver BMW, playing his crimson red Nintendo DS quite contentedly while Jiroemon was at the wheel, and Kayoko was in the passenger seat, watching the scenery go by. Kyoya didn't care, as he's too engrossed in his game to really bother to watch the scenery around him, not even as the car suddenly began to act strange._

"_Something's off with the car," Kayoko said._

"_I'll pull over and see what it is," Jiroemon said as he pulled to a safe side of the road they're on and stopped the car. He walked out of the car and looked at his tires. They seemed fine until he looked at the one on the back of the car, on the left. "It's flat!"_

_Kayoko came out of the car to see what's up. "A flat tire? Really?"_

"_Yeah. See?" Jiroemon showed her the flat tire._

"_Oh my! I wonder what caused it!" Kayoko exclaimed._

"_I hope I packed an extra tire," Jiroemon said as he turned on the trunk and opened it. To his displeasure, there are only a few beach towels. No new tire in sight. "Stupid me. Oh well. I'll call AAA and see if they can help," Jiroemon walked past the front of the car as he pulled out his cell phone. Kayoko joined him while Kyoya sat in the back seat, continuing to play his game._

_Kayoko became uneasy upon noticing they're right on the edge of a cliff with roadside barriers overlooking it. The cliff seemed to go pretty steep, even though the bottom of the cliff is actually not too far down. But it certainly looked dangerous if someone crashed into them and knocked the car down there._

_Kyoya continued to play his game until his Nintendo DS slipped out of his hand and bounced under the passenger seat where Kayoko sat. "Aw man!" Kyoya removed his seat belt and kneeled down to try and grab his game._

_The sound of tires screeching against the road scented the air, but he was completely oblivious to it, not even as the sound got louder and louder. "Got it!"_

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH

_Before he could look, a green van suddenly swerved right at the corner, heading right toward them. Kyoya had absolutely no time to react, even as he was rejoicing in managing to get his Nintendo DS out from underneath the passenger seat._

CRASH!

_The green van hit their silver BMW so hard it broke the side barrier in half, and both cars went tumbling down the cliff until it stopped at the bottom of it. Jiroemon and Kayoko barely managed to miss it, but found themselves completely frozen with shock. What in the world just happened? They managed to unfreeze the minute they remembered Kyoya was still in the car. But they were going to regret looking down that cliff. The green van and their silver BMW are both lying on the bottom of the cliff, smashed, decimated, and totaled, upside down. Broken glass was scattered all over the place. One of the car horns on the steering wheels was continuing to make a persistent BEEEEEEEEEP sound. The side of the silver BMW that the green van smashed looks more like a broken accordion._

"_No! NononononoNOOOO! KYOYAAA!" Kayoko wailed upon seeing the wreckage. Kyoya's in there! He could be trapped down there, possibly on the verge of death! If he died...Kayoko didn't want to think about it. Jiroemon embraced his inconsolably hysterical wife and called 119, hoping someone would come and save their child from the doors of death._

_As for Kyoya, he didn't know what was going on. All he knew was that he felt something heavy on his legs and back. He couldn't move at all. When he woke up, he saw his red Nintendo DS lying in the grass in front of him, along with some broken glass. Some tiny shards of glass got into his arm. He tried to reach out for the Nintendo DS, but he didn't have his glasses, so his eyesight was completely blurry, not helped by the fact that his head is pulsating quite hard. It was a futile effort, and he fell unconscious. He didn't wake up, even as the ghostly songs of ambulance sirens and fire trucks echoed in the air._

(end flashback)

"That must have hurt," Moonbeam said.

"It did. I was in a coma for a couple days, and from what the doctors told me, I almost died. But I didn't," Kyoya told her, looking down at his bare feet with a slightly sad, spaced out look. "The police managed to catch the guy who almost killed me. Turns out, he was so drunk he couldn't even see right, and by drunk I mean he drank WAAAAY too much alcohol."

"Alcohol is evil! People should never drink that stuff before they drive! It messes up their brain and makes them evil!" Riko exclaimed, balling her hands into little fists.

"I know, right?" Kyoya said.

"So...were you sad when...they told you you couldn't walk anymore?" Riko asked softly.

"At first I was. But then they told me it could have been a lot worse, and if I undergo lots of physical therapy, I'll be able to walk again like normal!" Kyoya explained, his smile returning. "I've been practicing how to walk again since day one. In fact, I managed to regain feeling in my legs, crawl, and stand up straight within a whole year! It takes years just to do all of that!" Kyoya proclaimed cheerfully, like his being able to regain feeling in his legs really is an accomplishment to be celebrated. Then he let out an embarrassed chuckle and scratched his head with his hand. "I still have trouble with actually walking, though."

"You've been through so much, yet you're so strong. I wish I was as strong and determined as you," The memory of seeing Kyoya fall down and get back up again in the nurse's office was strong in her mind. "I'm just a wimpy little crybaby who can't do anything right," Riko told him.

"You're not a wimp! You're awesome, and anyone who says otherwise has to deal with me! Oh! I have some scars from the accident! Wanna see?" Kyoya asked, and he didn't give Riko time to respond as he already pulled up the back of his shirt to reveal the scars on his back. They're all hard and pinkish red, some are small, one looks like a huge gash that didn't heal quite right. "You can touch them if you want!"

"No thanks. Those look like they hurt!" Riko said.

"They used to, but not anymore," Kyoya said as he pushed his shirt back down. He then looked at his ceiling with the same spaced out look again, like he's not really looking at the ceiling, but through it. "Y'know, you're the first person I've ever told about the accident."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've been so focused on my therapy that I never got to talk to anyone anymore. All the friends I did have drifted away from me...until I met you. You're the first person who actually doesn't make a big deal out of the fact that I'm in a wheelchair or treat me like I need constant help with everything."

Riko wasn't sure how to respond to that. Her heart was suddenly aglow with a strange, warm feeling she recognized, but was never able to get used to. Moonbeam suddenly piped in, "There are lots of people in wheelchairs on Rozaniela, but seeing them is as normal as seeing birds flying around."

"By the way, I wonder what's taking Marina so long?" Kyoya asked as he looked at the door. Riko suddenly donned a mischievous smile.

Before he could do anything, Kyoya suddenly felt a soft and tender sensation dancing on his ribs, which suddenly made him burst into a paroxysm of merry laughter. It didn't take long to find out it was Riko launching a tickle attack on him, sending him face down on the ground in an explosion of laughter on both sides.

"Hey! Cut it out, Riko!" Kyoya laughed as Riko launched her tickle assault on him. Soon, he got the upper hand by grabbing one of Riko's wrists and sending her to the floor. For someone who can barely walk, he sure is flexible and adept at getting himself out of a situation, even if it's merely a playful one. Then he noticed some of Riko's shirt got pulled up by the way it's rubbing against his floor, exposing a tiny bit of her slightly chubby abdomen. "Oh, you're in for it now!"

In playful retaliation, he launched his own tickle assault on her abdomen, and now Riko is the one bursting into merry laughter, trying helplessly to get this red-headed, bespectacled kid off of her, but failing miserably...or happily, in this case. "Quit it, Kyo-chan!" She playfully pushed on him, but he refused to let up. Even he was laughing at how silly and helpless Riko looked under his clutches. Moonbeam simply stood there watching, not quite sure what to do.

Normally, Riko doesn't like being tickled. With others, she didn't like it because they were being forceful and just wanted to tease her for their own pleasure without thought of how she'd feel. But she noticed she felt different this time. She...liked it. For one thing, Kyoya's hands aren't hard, cracked, sweaty, craggy, sticky, or any of those unpleasant feelings she hates, and she normally doesn't like being touched by people at all. But his tender fingers playfully dancing on her skin and successfully getting some cute giggles out of her felt surprisingly good. Even though she told him to stop, mostly out of habit, she actually wanted it to continue on for as long as humanly possible. In short, she loved the feeling of having him tickle her and his fingers dancing on her fragile skin. She relished and found some solace in it all. She felt something warm, soft, gentle, and kind, like some warm and sublime light was pouring out of his fingers and dissipating into her body, filling her with kindness and telling her _'Don't cry. It'll be okay. I'm here.'_ She didn't feel this with other people as they tickled her in the past. This time, Riko felt it, and she absolutely loved it. She wished that this would go on. Forever.

* * *

Right after Marina left the bedroom, she trotted into the kitchen to get some orange juice, only to stop upon seeing Kayoko in the kitchen making some coffee. Marina felt herself go rigid upon seeing her, remembering the time she yelled at her when Marina came to Riko's house to hang out. "Hi," Marina told her shyly.

"Hello. Are you having fun?" Kayoko asked cautiously, looking like she still has some doubts. Marina couldn't blame her.

"I am. Look, I...I'm sorry for everything I've done to your kid," Marina said apologetically, with a bow to go with it. "I've been through some hard times, and people were always mean to me, so...I figured the only way to cope was to be mean to them back. I'm not trying to justify what I've done, and you're right in that Kyoya didn't deserve any of the insults I threw at him. You don't have to forgive me. I don't really deserve it. I...just wanted to say sorry…"

Marina expected Kayoko to flip out and wail on her, like she attempted to back at Riko's house. But surprisingly enough, she didn't. "Thank you for being honest with me and for reflecting on your actions. You, Kyoya, and the others are getting along so nicely. I'm glad. So...I accept your apology."

Marina smiled. An awkward silence appeared between them until Marina broke it sheepishly. "My mother...was raped by a man, and I was born from him. You've heard of Wakita Shouji, right?"

"Yes, I have."

"I'm his kid, and everybody thinks I'm gonna grow up to be like him. They never listened to me when I tried to convince them I'm nothing like him and won't ever be. I pretty much gave up. But...now things are different now. My mother's gone to great lengths to take care of me, and I feel sad whenever I make her sad. I...I want to be a good person so she won't have to be sad all the time."

"I see. You seem to care about your mother a lot, and she cares about you."

"Yes, she does. Don't blame her for stuff I do. She doesn't deserve that."

"I'd never do something that stupid. But I'm glad that now you realize your actions have consequences for both yourself and the people around you. I'd be more than happy to help you with whatever it is you need help with, but try not to...let your anger get the better of you. Okay?"

"I'm working on that. Thanks."

The sound of merry laughter coming from upstairs crushed the awkwardness of the silence that came afterward. "Kyo-chan and Riko-chan must be having fun," Kayoko said.

"Yeah. They're really close," Marina told her softly.

Later on, Saki came back to pick Riko up, as it was almost 4:30. Riko said goodbye to Kyoya and his family and went home for the day. So did Marina.

* * *

"Dad?" Hotaru asked Sojiro after dinner.

"Hm? What is it, Hotaru?" Sojiro asked as he sat down on the dinner table to read the paper.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but I...I never got around to it…" Hotaru said shyly, unsure of whether she should ask or not.

"Go ahead. I'm all ears," Sojiro said with a smile.

'_No. I've come this far. I can't miss this opportunity. Come on, Hotaru! Just say it! It's not that hard!'_ Hotaru told herself in her mind. Finally, she blurted it out. "Do...Do I have a mother?"

The question left Sojiro silent with surprise. He gently put down the newspaper. Hotaru gasped a little, thinking she might have pressed a button she shouldn't have. _'Oh no! I knew I shouldn't have asked after all! Is he angry?'_ Hotaru thought. She wanted to tell him never mind, but he smiled somewhat sadly.

"I was wondering when you'd finally ask that question," Sojiro said.

"Huh? You're...not offended?" Hotaru asked, flabbergasted, her ocean blue eyes wide like saucers.

"Not at all. I have quite a story to tell, but let's do it in the living room. Shall we?" Sojiro said as he got up and ambled into the living room. Hotaru did the same. They both sat down on the couch in front of their flat screen TV, which is off.

"You see...the truth is, Kyouichi and I met long after you were born. After we hit it off, he asked to marry me. We married in America because gay marriage in Japan isn't legalized, but it is over there. But before all of that…" Sojiro began. Hotaru could tell his eyes looked somber and dejected when he began telling the story. "After I graduated from college, I came out to my parents, hoping they'd accept my orientation. I was a stupid fool to tell them. They looked at me like I turned into some mutated monster from a horror movie, and I didn't see what the big deal was. But later on...they forced me into a marriage with a woman who was the daughter of one of their friends. Your mother's name is Hayashibara Mayuko. They didn't tell her about my orientation, just that they found the perfect husband for her. I couldn't protest, so I simply just put up with it. Later on, you were born. Don't get me wrong, Hotaru. Having you was one of the best things ever to happen to me. But...soon, Mayuko found out I was gay and...she just...up and left. But she left a note, saying that she wants nothing to do with a gay man who defiled her or a possibly gay child she produced. She was VERY homophobic, and was convinced I tried to make her homosexual and that you'd come out gay too. She was very selfish and closed-minded."

Hotaru's ocean blue eyes began to blur. So she does have a mother! There was nothing but sincerity in the story he's telling her. She couldn't believe her father is baring one of his deepest, darkest secrets to her, exposing them for the world to see. But the fact that her mother was part of an arranged marriage, homophobic, and left her father because she couldn't accept his orientation saddened her, even more so upon hearing that she was under the impression that Hotaru might turn out homosexual the minute she learned of Sojiro's orientation. What made Mayuko decide Hotaru would become homosexual no matter what? It broke her heart to know that her mother was a selfish, closed-minded, superficial, homophobic person, so much so that she'd abandon her own daughter just because of a falsely preconceived notion. Sojiro could see his daughter's face turning somber, and he put both of his hands on her shoulders.

"Hotaru. Mayuko's wrong about you. You are a wonderful girl, and I wouldn't change one thing about you. I don't mind if you decide you're straight or a lesbian. Whatever you choose to be, you'll always be my daughter, and parents should love and embrace their children, warts and all. Don't be sad when I tell you this. It breaks my heart to see you sad, and don't think it's your fault she left, because it isn't. Some people are just hard headed like that," Sojiro told her lovingly, his eyes trembling.

Hotaru pushed the blurriness out of her eyes. "I know. I'm just happy to know that...you're not like her," And she is. Sojiro could tell there was nothing but sincerity in her trembling words. Mayuko's really missing out on seeing what a wonderful girl Hotaru is. Even though she's angry at Mayuko for her selfishness, Hotaru is at least happy that Sojiro cares about her and doesn't agree with his ex-wife's views of homosexuals.

* * *

The weekend closed it's doors and the new week opened itself up. The school day went fine as usual. But after school, Saki had to take Riko and Rina to the store again for some obligatory food shopping, along with a trip to Kohls for some new clothes. Again, Rina was vocal in the fact that she's not keen on the idea, making up ridiculous excuses, 100% of them involving Riko, to make them stay home. Saki and Riko paid her absolutely no heed, but wish she'd stop whining and acting like a brat. They stopped at Kohls first to look at some clothes since spring is nearing it's end and summer is beginning to blossom it's way in. Rina was particularly awestruck by some new, trendy clothes and picked out anything she could yank off the shelf.

"Hey, Mom! Can I get this?" Rina asked as she pulled out a rather glittery and sparkly dress.

"No, Rina. It's too expensive."

"Can I get this shirt?"

"No, Rina. It's too big for you."

"What about this skirt?"

"Absolutely not! It's too short!"

All the while, they found lots of new clothes for Riko that not only fit great and were perfectly plain, but were at reasonable prices. Rina was miffed by the fact that all Riko got were plain shirts and shorts, no pretty dresses or skirts, plus the fact that they only have two things for Rina: a cherry colored dress and a lime green and white frilled skirt. "How come you don't buy any dresses or skirts? They'll make you normal!"

"I hate dresses and skirts!" Riko told her.

"Rina. Don't decide things for people. It's rude," Saki told her sternly.

"How come she gets a bunch of clothes and I don't?! They're not even pretty or normal clothes!" Rina complained.

"You always want stuff that's really expensive or too promiscuous for you," Riko said.

She doesn't know what promiscuous means, but regardless, Rina screeched. "You always get what you want and not me! You're weird!" Rina shouted out loud, causing people to turn their heads and stare. Saki kneeled down and put a finger to her own mouth.

"Shhh! Don't start!" Saki shushed.

"They're staring because Riko doesn't wanna buy stuff that'll make her normal!" Rina protested.

They paid for the clothes, went to the car, and drove to the food store. Rina decided to keep quiet this time, as they're here for food and other necessities, nothing else. However, whenever they would go down some aisles, they would see a mother and three little kids, all between the ages of three and five, pacing down the aisles, with bags under her eyes, either bouncing a crying kid in her hands or facepalming and letting out very exhausted sounding sighs. Two of her kids always cried no matter what, and Riko always covered her ears.

"Don't cover your ears! It's weird! Get over it!" Rina hissed.

"Rina. Stop it," Saki hissed back, causing Rina to cross her arms. But then again, even she found the screechy sound of the children crying to be irritating.

Although Rina stopped complaining, Riko didn't stop covering her ears, because the kids just wouldn't stop being little brats. When they finally got into a line, they saw the scraggly-haired, hunched looking woman pick up a box of cereal and put it in the rusty shopping cart, only for one of the kids to take it out and put it back. "No!" The woman said as she took the cereal box and put it back in. But the kid took it back out just as quickly. "No! Stop it!"

"No! I want candy!" The kid argued as she tried to yank the cereal box out of her thin hands. It was like they were in a game of tug and war. One kid, who sat in the shopping cart, suddenly began ripping a bag of coffee and spilled coffee powder all over the place. The mother gasped, but the kid she's tugging the cereal box from managed to win, only to rip the box and have cereal spilled all over the place. The little girl suddenly began screeching at the top of her lungs. The kid in the shopping cart began crying while throwing things at the mother. Another kid ran to another kid and tried to take his toy away.

"Hey! That's mine!" The boy argued.

"No! Gimme! Mine!" The mother's other kid yelled as it tried to take away the boy's ninja turtle toy. The boy's mother managed to take the boy away, making the other kid start screaming and jumping up and down at the top of his lungs.

"Hey! Shut your brats up, will you?!" Someone yelled vehemently from a check out line.

Riko pressed her small hands tight against her ears, trying her hardest to block out the horrible sounds. The trio of children crying, various customers yelling, the mother trying to scold her children and make them stop their wild mischief, the many rusty shopping carts, squeaking shoes, all of the noise piled onto her ears like a Jenga tower just dying to topple over at the slightest nudge. Riko wanted to get away, but where could she run to? She couldn't just run out of the store. There are strangers out there, and she can't just leave Rina here. One of the store employees walked up to the woman with a very aggravated look on his face.

"You break it, you buy it!" The employee scolded as the mother put a hand on her daughter's arm, stopping her from causing more damage.

"Rina. Stay here," Saki whispered to Rina before bolting in between the mother and the choleric store employee.

"Don't yell. It'll just make things worse," Saki told the man calmly, then kneeled in front of the abject, drained mother and handed her two twenty dollar bills. "Here. This'll pay for the damaged items. Is that okay?"

One of her kids screeched again as he knocked some DVDs out of a stand, sending them clattering onto the floor. That did it for Riko. Unable to handle more noise, she bolted past the line and ran out of the store exit. Rina facepalmed.

"I can't take this!" The hunched, distressed mother of three exclaimed abjectly as she took all three of her kids by the arm and ran out of the store with them kicking and screaming like crazy. She left the shopping cart and everything else in it in the aisle, leaving Saki with the two forty dollar bills in her hands, her good gesture rejected.

"Stupid woman can't even discipline her own children right," One customer hissed. "My children know better than to be so vulgar and violent."

Saki suddenly stared daggers at her, her green eyes donning a disappointed glint. "I'm sure she's doing the best she can! It's not easy raising three kids, and you can't blame the parents for EVERYTHING that goes on! You should be happy she at least tried to keep them from doing any more damage! If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!" Saki shouted, cowing the woman into silence.

As for the distressed woman, she dragged all of her kids into a maroon van, put them all in there, and then went inside herself. She sat on the drivers seat as a waterfall of tears poured out of her face, falling onto the seat fabric. She buried her face into her arms and the steering wheel. The children continued to scream and shout and cry and throw whatever insults they could think of at her.

"You're mean! I want candy NOW!"

"I want a ninja turtle toy!"

"Candy! Candy! Candy!"

The woman is so drained she's unable to muster the energy to tell them all to be quiet or even discipline them. All she could do is cry onto her steering wheel helplessly, just like she has for quite a long time, way past her wit's end. "I can't do this...I'm not fit to be a parent…"

As for Riko, she found a bench right outside the store and sat on it. It's still loud outside, but it's much better than listening to a bunch of bratty, crying kids screaming at the top of their lungs, wrecking everything, and causing whatever trouble they could make. It didn't take long for Saki and Rina to find her, with their stuff bagged and paid for.

"You okay, Riko? Sorry about that whole brouhaha," Saki told her kindly.

"It's okay," Riko muttered.

"You ruined everything! You need to stop covering your ears at everything! That's why people say you're weird!" Rina shouted louder than normal, completely missing the point about Riko's running out of the store. Riko's already at her wit's end.

"It's not my fault loud noise hurts my ears!" Riko shouted vehemently, appalled at the fact that Rina is accusing her of being the one causing the fiasco in the store just by covering her ears the whole time and running away from the noise. All she wanted to do was escape to a quiet place, not exacerbate the situation.

"Yes it is! You're weird and stupid and you ruin everything by being so, just like you ruined my 5th birthday party! Why can't you be normal?! You wonder why everyone stares at us and yells at us!"

"They weren't yelling at us! Just those annoying brats! Stop making everything out to be my fault!"

Now Saki is at her wit's end. "Alright! That is enough! We are going home, and I don't want to hear anymore of it!"

'_Why does Rina always blame me for everything, even stuff I don't even do?! Does she hate me that much?!'_ Riko yelled in her brain. She wished she was at Kyoya's house. At least they're nice and don't make a big deal out of every little thing she does. Some jealousy creeped into her heart. She wished she was an only child like her friends are. They don't have to put up with a little brat like Rina or the even brattier trio of kids that nearly wrecked the store. But what Rina didn't know is that a kid her age and his dad walked right past them, whispering to each other.

"See, Daddy? She's the girl I told you about who's always mean to her big sister for no reason," The girl whispered. Rina is completely unaware of this, as she and Riko helped Saki put their food in the truck. After that, Saki drove Riko and Rina home. All three of them are mopey and angry, not unlike the mother and her three little kids.

As soon as Riko got into her room, she plopped onto her bed and screeched into her pillow. "UUUUUGH!"

"What happened to you?" Sunbeam asked with concern.

"It was awful! A bunch of kids all threw tantrums in the store and kept screaming the whole time we were in there! It was too much so I ran out to get away from it! But STUUUPID Rina yells at me right afterward about how I ruin everything because I cover my ears and 'cause I'm weird and how I make everybody stare and yell even though I wasn't even doing anything!" Riko yelled into her pillows.

"That must have sucked," Sunbeam said.

"Oh, it did! Ugh! Why does Rina hate me so much?! She always blames me for stuff and makes everything I do sound like a really big deal, even when I don't even do anything! It's not my fault I'm sensitive to loud noise!" Riko screeched into her pillows. Her blood is boiling and she wanted to cool down, but her anger continued to simmer. Sunbeam, feeling sad for the exhausted, tired, inundated girl, gently stroke her raven black hair with her paw, hoping this will calm her down a bit and make her feel somewhat better. "I wish I wasn't autistic…"

"How come?"

"I wish I was normal so Rina wouldn't hate me so much or pick on me every day."

"I think you're fine just the way you are. Besides, Rina would probably drive you crazy whether you're normal or not."

"Good point."

"Riko? Anzu-chan's on the phone," Saki said as she came into Riko's room and handed her the phone. Riko popped out of her pillows and took the phone.

"Hi An-chan. What's up?" Riko asked as Saki left the room.

"_Riko! You've gotta get here quick! That green haired guy's at it again! In front of the food store you go to!"_ Anzu exclaimed.

"What?!"

* * *

The distressed mother from before screamed and struggled as Decebal rummaged through her Soul Portal. Soon, he pulled his face out of it. "Hmph! Your suffering is so petty. Don't be so arrogant as to think you have it worse than anyone else!" Decebal said as he put his hand in her Soul Portal. The mother screamed louder as Decebal rummaged through her Soul Portal to yank out her soul.

"Stop this right now, you knave!" Riko's voiced boomed as her Twilight Ring managed to hit Decebal so hard he was sent flying onto someone's car, breaking the glass on the windshield. The wall the woman is strapped to disappeared. So did her Soul Portal. As soon as Decebal removed himself from the now broken car, the quartet of Pretty Cures and fairy sisters descended onto the scene.

"I am the light that will brighten up your world, Cure Twilight!"

"I am the lights that illuminate the darkness, Cure Starlight!"

"I am the light that will bring in the new day, Cure Dawn!"

"I am the light that will warm your heart, Cure Dusk!"

"We will banish the darkness with the light from our hearts! We are the luminous quartet! LuminousQ Pretty Cure!"

Cure Twilight turned to face the distressed mother. "Get as far away from here as you can! We'll handle things here!"

"Right. Thank you," The mother said worriedly as she scrambled to the van and drove away with her kids, still screaming like their lives are in danger.

Decebal drew out his rapier and pointed it at the girls. "You're going to pay for getting in my way!"

"Make us, loser!" Cure Dusk yelled as she tried to land some punches on the well dressed, green haired man, but he kept evading them. Dawn and Starlight tried to attack as well, but he punched them both, sending them flying onto some nearby cars, making some big marks on them. That gave Cure Twilight time to knock the rapier out of his hands and land a good kick on him, sending him through the store window. The fairies took the rapier and tried to fly away with it, but despite it's small, thin size, it turned out to be heavier than expected, and they wound up dropping it. Decebal flew out of the store and, with a strong punch, knocked Cure Twilight into a shopping cart.

"OW!" Cure Twilight yelped as she flew into a shopping cart.

"Dawn Slam!" Cure Dawn, with her glowing nunchucks, did some ninja moves and tried to slam Decebal with them, but he did some back flips, causing Anzu to unknowingly slam the concrete instead, causing a relatively small explosion that didn't do much damage.

"Starlight Kick!" Cure Starlight tried to kick Decebal, but he grabbed her foot, spun around, and sent her flying against another car.

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Cure Dusk shot a slew of flaming arrows at Decebal, who knocked them all away with his rapier. "God, he's strong!"

"The fact that you can't beat me at all proves that you are all just weak little girls. Just go home, play with your dolls, and be at the beck and calls of your husbands!" Decebal told them maliciously, pointing his razor sharp rapier at them with a smug smirk.

"Stop belittling our gender! Twilight Serenade!" Cure Twilight shot a beam of light at him, but he dodged it, and it wound up blowing up someone's black Mercedes Benz. "ACK! Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

"UUUGH! Dusk Medley!" With a loud screech, Cure Dusk shot flaming musical notes at Decebal, who knocked them all away with his rapier.

Decebal stood gracefully on top of a green van. "Don't think you're so special, you little weaklings," With a single snap of his glove covered fingers, black blobs suddenly appeared in mass numbers around them, all about their own size and height. They soon grew big, stubby, useless fingers and big, bloody red eyes.

"I don't need to waste anymore time on you. I have important business to attend to, so either accept you live for a life of servitude or die at the hands of my creations, the Transparent," Decebal said as he flew away.

"Ewww! They're so gross!" Cure Dawn whined.

"They look like black Hattifatteners," Cure Twilight said rather casually, completely unafraid of them.

"Are we gonna talk all day or give these things some beatdowns?!" Cure Dusk shouted as she cracked her knuckles.

"Sure! At least I have something I can take my anger out on!" Cure Twilight shouted this time.

"We'll help too!" The fairies exclaimed as they shot some beams of light at some Transparent, successful in making them disappear into thin air.

"Starlight Shower!"

"Mandarin Dusk Inferno!"

"Dawn Flame!"

"Twilight Serenade!"

The quartet of Pretty Cures and fairy sisters gave the myriad of black blobby things all the beatdowns they could give them. The Transparent disappeared into thin air as soon as the Pretty Cures or fairies landed their attacks on them, making them surprisingly easy to fight. But they're not only persistent, but there's a whole lot of them. One of them made a car explode.

"Ugh! Don't we have some kind of four Cure final attack or something we could use together?!" Cure Twilight complained, tired and exhausted.

"Oh! There is!" Lovebeam exclaimed. She and the fairy sisters whispered into their ears about the final attack they can come up with. The girls nodded.

"Lend us your power, holy light!" They all began by holding hands, and they all became consumed with a radiant white light, shining brightly like a camera flash. "Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!" As soon as they said it in perfect unison, the light blinded everything and everyone around them, causing all of the remaining Transparent to dissipate into the air, never to be seen again. The glow faded away, but the girls are surrounded by some destroyed cars and broken glass from the big window of the food store. Cure Twilight fell to her knees and exhaled a big sigh of relief.

"Yaaaay. We're done," Cure Twilight wailed softly. She was about to relish in their victory against the black Hattifatteners until she felt a crushed, aluminum soda can hit her in the face. "Ow!"

She's not the only one getting stuff thrown at her either. A huge crowd of people surrounded them, throwing a huge variety of items at them. Aluminum soda cans, glass bottles, rocks, twigs, hamburger wrappers, balled up shopping bags, even old baby toys. All of the people throwing stuff at them have eyes filled to the brim with nothing but anger and hate, their teeth grinding.

"Look what you've done!"

"My car's totaled! My insurance isn't cheap, y'know!"

"How are you gonna take responsibility for this?! Huh?!"

"Cars don't come cheap! Why'd you have to go and destroy it?!"

"The store's a mess because of you idiots!"

"Are you trying to ruin our lives?!"

"Go away! We don't want you here if this is what you're going to keep doing!"

"We didn't mean it! Honest!" Cure Dawn tried to convince them they're trying to save him from Decebal, but the pandemonium of the crowd nullified her attempts to do so. Cure Twilight covered her ears, inundated by their hateful shouting and screaming. Not wanting to bear the brunt of their jingoistic hatred, the cures and the fairies left the chaotic scene. Once they got far enough, they turned back to normal.

"It seems we went a little crazy this time," Hotaru said.

"Uuuugh! RIKO! Why'd you have to blow stuff up?!" Marina suddenly shouted. Couldn't Riko catch a break? She's been through enough yelling for one evening.

"I didn't do it on purpose! You saw how powerful Decebal is!" Riko shouted back.

"You could have killed people with those attacks of yours!"

"I was only trying to help!"

"Hey hey hey! Knock it off, you two!" Moonbeam edicted as she got in between the fiery Marina and the exhausted Riko. "Look! Nobody's dead, nobody's hurt, everything's fine for now! Okay? Sure, it was unfortunate that you did some damage, but it was inevitable! Besides, the fate of the world is at stake here, so broken cars and windows are the least of our problems!" She scolded.

"She's right. There's more at stake, so we have to work as a team and not yell at each other over this stuff," Hotaru told them.

"Let's just go home. We're all tired here, so let's get some rest," Anzu suggested.

"And do our homework. I hate math," Riko murmured.

* * *

"Zenjin? What's that song you keep whistling?" Beileag asked one day, dabbing her face with blush as she sat in front of a mirror on the floor, listening to Zenjin whistle a nice little song. He laid down on his bed as he whistled.

"I don't know. It's been in my head my whole life," Zenjin replied as he stopped to eat some warm chicken noodle soup, but snot still continued to dry on the skin underneath his nose. "Hey. I was wondering. How'd you and Decebal meet anyway?" He asked.

"Ohh! I'm glad you asked! It was the beginning of a super duper romantic encounter!" Beileag squealed happily like a romantic as she relayed to him the story of how she and Decebal met.

(flashback)

_Donning a beautiful, sparkling, cotton candy pink taffeta dress with clear, transparent chiffon sleeves, matching pink shoes, and pink hair decorations supporting her pig tails, a slightly younger Beileag stood on a stage underneath the spotlight, with Decebal and two other grown men watching from the seats. There are some auditions being held in order to recruit new actors and actresses for their theater troupe._

"_Who might you be, young lady?" Decebal asked politely, twiddling his glove covered finers._

"_Um...my name is Beileag, but I prefer Billie or B-chan. I'm going to recite a scene from one of my favorite Earthling books, Romeo and Juliet," Beileag told them with a slightly shy but cheerful smile. She couldn't mess this up. This was her chance to be part of the acting troupe, and they didn't hold auditions very often. With a sigh of encouragement, she began her audition._

"O Romeo, Romeo,

wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name,

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

_She went on and on, reciting the long line with lots of pseudo-woe and yearning, but very good pseudo-woe and yearning. The jaws of the judges dropped to the seats they're sitting on, their eyes wide like saucers. Beileag's soliloquy seemed to go on forever, but it only lasted for about a few short minutes. But to the judges, hearing this wonderful, dramatic soliloquy made them feel like they were listening to a Heavenly church choir. When Beileag stopped, Decebal suddenly stood on his Shakespearian looking shoes and clapped his hands wildly, giving a surprised Beileag a round of applause, followed by the other two judges._

"_Bravissimo! Bravissimo! You are truly one of a kind, little girl!" Decebal exalted Beileag with his loud clapping, which made Beileag's eyes sparkle with delight. She felt like she was going to explode from too much happiness. "You've passed! Please, join our troupe! We have lots of roles you would be absolutely perfect for!"_

"_Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! You have, like, no idea how much this means to me!" Beileag told him gratefully. She couldn't believe she passed the audition so quickly! Her cup of happiness was overflowing, and she felt as though she could fly into heaven right now._

_After that, Beileag took part in many of the troupe's performances. Many plays were from Earth, but there were a few Rozanielan ones, too. Beileag loved every moment of it. She got to be on stage! She got to perform in front of a live audience! She got to perform her favorite parts in her favorite plays! She got to be on stage with Decebal, even kiss him a few times during the romantic parts! Her flighty little heart was constantly aflutter, pounding whenever she would make contact with the regal, green haired man who always gave his best and most dramatic performances on stage. His deep, regal, booming voice, his elegant, classy style of dress, his physical beauty, the way his green hair would sparkle underneath the spotlight, the way he would just steal an entire play whenever he would come forth, etc._

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts."

"_What's that from?" Beileag asked one day when they weren't performing. Decebal was in his dressing room, alone before Beileag came in._

"_It's the first four stanzas of a monologue that has Earthly origins. I happen to like the analogy it presents, the idea of the world being a stage and people of all ages being actors playing many parts," Decebal said as he looked at himself with a little compact mirror._

"_It sounds beautiful."_

"_It sure is, my darling," When he finished, he turned around to face her. "Sorry if this sounds like I'm prying, but tell me, my dear, is it true you have no place to live?"_

"_Uhh...well...I..." Beileag replied shyly, a little thrown off by her beloved colleague's question. True, she knew he meant no harm by it, but it was still a little random. But she decided to reply anyway. "My parents and I always wandered the planet, doing whatever we liked. It was fine, but I wanted to be in one place just to try out some things and find what I really liked. But when my parents found out I wanted to be a fashion designer or an actress, they said I'll be tied down and will never be truly free. But I feel free when I'm doing what I like, like acting and designing dresses! I did go to school for a while, but kids never liked me, and the ones that bothered to interact with me were simply using me to boost their popularity…"_

"_I see. You've had an interesting life. I do wonder what it's like to be a wandering vagabond…" Decebal said, listening intently._

"_It has its ups and downs, but I wanted to be in one place…a place where I can truly be myself and put my talents to good use," Beileag said._

"_I see. How about this? I recently moved into a house about a week ago. Would you like to move in with me?" Decebal asked kindly._

"_Wait...what?! Seriously?!" Beileag yelped in her loudest voice. Decebal is actually asking her to come live with him? Under the same roof as him? "I...I appreciate the offer, but won't people get the wrong idea? I don't want them to think-"_

"_It's fine. I have an extra room you can occupy, and I'll be sure to explain your situation to everyone, no strings attached," Decebal said with a smile._

_Beileag shrugged off her surprise and put both hands on her chest. "I...I don't know what to say...you've always been kind, but to think you'd do this much for me...I don't know if thank you will even do anything…" Beileag told him gratefully._

(end flashback)

"...and we've been together ever since!" Beileag finished, looking like she's dreaming about making love with Decebal. As soon as she finished her romantic tale, Zenjin sneezed again.

"Ugh. Your mushy-gushy love story is making me sicker than I already am!" Zenjin hissed as he grabbed a tissue and wiped the snot off his nose.

"Oh, bite your tongue!" Beileag snapped, appalled by his lack of appreciation for romance. "Surely, if you ever find the girl of your dreams, you'll understand what it's like to be swept off your feet by the tsunamis of LOVE!" Her eyes sparkled with stars and hearts.

"I hate girls," Zenjin hissed before wrapping himself in his tacky black comforter.

Footnotes:

1. The Japanese word for umbrella is kasa, spelled with a K. But there's a Spanish word pronounced the same way, just spelled with a C, casa, which is Spanish for house. Kyoya's talking in Spanish when he says to Riko "welcome to the Mitomo house!" but Riko thought he was saying the Japanese word, kasa, which is umbrella.


	14. Broken Friendships and Battling Sisters!

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thanks so much for supporting my fan series and leaving reviews! I really appreciate it! You're all so great!

But I have a bit of a serious question to pose to you all, and I really need an answer on this: **do you think my story is ableist?** I honestly want to know, because I came across a Tumblr called Fan Cure Confessions, and one person on there accused my story of being ableist, even though that is NOT my intention at all. Ableist means discriminating against someone with disabilities. **I myself am autistic**, so why would I discriminate against my characters? True, I do write some characters who are, but that's only to create some real life conflicts in the story and to drop aesops regarding the treatment of people with disabilities, NOT to discriminate against anyone in particular. I know I shouldn't let this stuff bother me, but honestly, it really hurts to have someone completely miss the entire point of your story, even if it's not fully complete yet, which in a way I can understand. Please tell me whether my story is ableist or not. I'd appreciate some honest answers. I'm really hoping it isn't, because that isn't my intention at all.

* * *

Chapter 14: Broken Friendships and Battling Sisters! Can't Anyone Get Along?

On a bright and sunny Tuesday morning, Riko sat on her stuffed animal inhabited bed, reading yet another one of her Moomin books, _Tales From Moominvalley_. Starbeam is sleeping right next to her, also with one of Riko's Moomin books in her little hands, _Moominsummer Madness_. Riko had just worked on a huge part of her school project on cats. It's coming along quite nicely. She really didn't want to go to school today, but she knows she has to. When she stopped at the end of the chapter she's reading, she put a bookmark in her book, closed it, and put it in the purse she'll take with her to school. After that, she put stuff in her lunch box and put books and notebooks in her book bag. Once everything is ready, Saki dropped Riko off at school first.

Riko looked around for Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina on the blacktop. There's too many children running around, chasing each other, or in their own cliques. They're easy to pick out, but they didn't seem to be in the blacktop, so she checked the front of the school. There's a few kids on there. Lo and behold, there are Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina! But something was amiss, as Fukiko is standing in front of Kyoya looking really sad and apologetic, while her favorite red haired, bespectacled friend looked at her with a very angry face, like he wanted her to just go away and leave him alone forever. Marina and Anzu are watching them talk with curious eyes. Becoming curious herself, Riko trotted over to the scene to see what was going on between them.

"Kyoya-kun...I'm sorry for everything I've done to you! Can we be friends again?" Fukiko asked with an apologetic bow, her voice trembling.

Riko found herself smiling. Fukiko's taking her advice and apologizing to Kyoya! Riko didn't think she'd listen to her, as nobody usually does listen to her. This time, it's different. But as happy she is about Fukiko finally taking action, Kyoya certainly doesn't seem very happy about just having her be in his presence in the first place. In fact, he looked at her like she was the ugliest abomination he ever saw.

"Oh, NOW you apologize?!" Kyoya suddenly yelled out of nowhere, his emerald green eyes donning a cautious, ferocious glint. They had absolutely nothing but rancor in them. "After leaving me in the dust when I needed you the most?! You sure have a lot of nerve for trying to make me fall for whatever you're trying to pull!"

"What?! I'm not trying to pull anything!" Fukiko protested. Some kids began to gather around them to see that the hubbub was all about. "I know I've been cruel to you and I'm sorry! I want us to be friends again!"

Kyoya wasn't buying it. Not one little bit. "NOW you want to be a friend?! Where were you when I was in the hospital?! Where were you when I was in a coma and almost died?! Where were you when I started my physical therapy?!" Fukiko couldn't answer him, because she knew he was right. She didn't visit him in the hospital or be there for him when he needed her the most. His questions pierced the armor she kept around herself for the past year and a half, and she was helpless to put the pieces back together. Kyoya continued with his harangue. He didn't care if he was hurting Fukiko's feelings. They deserved to be hurt, after she hurt his feelings long ago! "Real friends visit their injured friends in the hospital! Real friends support them whenever possible! Real friends don't decide to discard them like trash because now they suddenly look different! You could have stayed with me when Daizo told me I'm too crippled to be near him anymore! You could have stood up to him, but noooo! You'd much rather be a stupid, shallow, conformist popular girl than an actual friend! Do you really believe just saying sorry is going to magically fix me and make me not paralyzed anymore?!"

"NO! That's not-" Fukiko tried to protest. She doesn't want him to be fixed. He's still the same Kyoya as before, just in a wheelchair now. Nothing else about him has changed. Fukiko finally realized it now, but Kyoya doesn't believe it. Does he actually believe all she wants to do is make him normal and that she still thinks of him as nothing but a crippled kid, nothing more? Not only that, she never did find out what hospital he went to, nor his physical therapy schedule, so how is she supposed to know all of that? Kyoya never did tell her about where he went after the accident. Riko never saw this side of Kyoya before. He's usually so nice, mellow, friendly, and caring, even if he is rather blunt sometimes, and he's usually blunt for good reason, namely for the benefit of others. This new version of him is completely alien to her, and she found his newfound anger to be frightening.

"Face it, you idiot! You're not sorry at all! You just don't want to feel guilty and actually be a good person! Well, it's too late! You and Daizo made your opinion about me very clear. Now get out! You better get back to your shallow, selfish, girly girl clique! You don't want to be seen hanging out with the Four Eyed Cripple, now do you?!" Kyoya shouted in his highest, angriest voice possible.

With that, Kyoya wheeled away in a hissy fit, leaving Fukiko alone and heartbroken, in stunned silence, in the center of a circle of surprised, flummoxed kids. Fukiko tried, and she crashed and burned. She apologized, like Riko told her to, but what happened? He stomped on her heart, ripped it to pieces, and threw them into the breeze to be blown into the depths of oblivion, shocked and broken by his unfeigned and virulent audacity and temerity. He doesn't believe she's truly sorry for what she did. She fell to her knees, and they rubbed into the grass beneath her. She didn't care at this point. All of a sudden, her eyesight began to blur and she suddenly felt streams of warm water trickling down her cheeks. Her face is pinched and contorted. Nobody bothered to help her up except for one girl with short, plump, pale brown hair and matching eyes. If Riko remembered correctly, she was sure the short haired girl's name is Takayama something. What was her first name again? It started with a Chi. Chinami? Chiko? Chika? Chikako? As soon as the girl helped her up, Fukiko croaked out some soft, high pitched whimpering at first, which soon evolved into full on bawling. Riko covered her ears, as Fukiko's frighteningly abject crying is too loud for her to bear. Right after that, the bell rang. Not wanting to listen to Fukiko's crying, Riko stormed into the classroom, along with the tsunami of other kids.

The school day seemed fine until math class came along. Not only are they learning new lessons that Riko can't seem to understand despite taking lots of notes, Yuji and some of his friends are talking and laughing during class and won't stop even as Mr. Ikari is scolding them. They finally stopped when Mr. Ikari raised his voice and screamed at them, prompting Riko to cover her ears just like earlier. But unlike with Fukiko, Mr. Ikari's yelling scared her even more, freezing her in place, so much so that she can't even remove her hands from her ears to take more notes. She tried to remove her hands from her ears, but they felt like they were glued there, long after Mr. Ikari stopped yelling. All of a sudden, her own eyesight began to blur, and now she has warm water streaming down her cheeks, leaving dark spots on her notebook paper.

"Tasogare? Is something wrong?" Mr. Ikari asked as he stopped writing on the whiteboard, suddenly noticing Riko's frighteningly wide eyed, dejected look, and the waterfall of tears pouring out of her face, dripping onto her notebook paper. Some other kids turned around to look, some with concern, others out of a malicious curiosity.

Out of nowhere, the girl who comforted Fukiko before-the pretty, amiable looking girl named Takayama-suddenly raised her hand high into the air. "I can take her to Terada-sensei's office. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Go ahead, Chinami-san," Mr. Ikari told her. As soon as he gave permission, Riko hastily closed her notebook, stuffed it in her bag, and didn't even wait for the girl to accompany her before dashing out. Chinami-as it turns out-followed her right after taking a wooden hall pass off the wall. Some of the girls began whispering, including the ones Fukiko usually hangs out with.

"The stupid baby's at it again," Manaka whispered to Ryoko.

"She's always crying over stupid things. Math isn't that hard. She needs to grow up and get over it," Ryoko whispered back, which made the two of them burst into whispery giggles. But their giggles were still loud enough for Mr. Ikari to hear.

"Alright, you two! Off to the principal's office!" Mr. Ikari edicted.

"But we didn't do anything!" Manaka protested.

"Don't think I don't hear you talking trash about people. It's very rude to talk during class! It's disruptive! Now, march, or you'll get detention with me!" Mr. Ikari boomed, causing a defeated Ryoko and Manaka to take their things and amble grimly to the principal's office.

"Why does he have to be such an idiot?" Ryoko whispered as they walked into the hall.

"Can't he loosen up a bit?" Manaka whispered.

The school counselor-Mrs. Terada's office isn't very far from the classroom. All it took was a couple doors to get to, and the office in itself isn't very big. Just a little table with a few chairs, and a cubicle where Mrs. Terada does her work, along with a little tiny crimson red sofa-red like a rose-some bookshelves full of books, and other things. Mrs. Terada is a slightly plump woman with lightly tanned skin, freckles dotting her face, long, flat, stringy, pale blonde hair, and deep, chocolate brown eyes. Today she's wearing a simple blue dress-nothing fancy-along with a pair of beige loafers.

"Hi, Terada-sensei!" Chinami called out, managing to get Mrs. Terada's attention.

"Hi, Chinami-chan. Is something wrong?" Mrs. Terada asked in a soft voice, immediately noticing Riko's contorted, dejected face.

"Tasogare-san just started crying in class just a few minutes ago. I think it's because Yuji and his lackeys were being stupid and Ikari-sensei yelled at them," Chinami explained in a clear, nice, pretty sounding voice, wasting absolutely no details whatsoever.

"Too loud...I hate yelling…" Riko croaked, wasting no time sitting on the red sofa.

"I see. Thanks for bringing her here, Chinami-chan. You'd better get back to class," Mrs. Terada told her gratefully. The brown haired girl nodded and bolted back to the classroom, leaving a crying Riko and a concerned Mrs. Terada alone in the room. Mrs. Terada sat down on the sofa next to Riko. "You don't like it when people yell. Do you?"

Riko shook her head. "I hate it! It's too loud, and people did it all the time back in Yokosuka, kids and adults! Stupid Yuji just haaaad to talk during class! I wish he'd shut up and go away!"

"Ikari-sensei does tend to lose his temper when his buttons get pushed, but I'm sure he wasn't trying to scare you. Sometimes people resort to yelling when nothing else works, and I'm sure even he didn't want to go that far," Mrs. Terada told her kindly.

The two spent a lot of time together just talking. In fact, Mrs. Terada offered to let Riko eat her lunch in here instead of the cafeteria/auditorium so she can have more time to calm down on the condition that she makes sure not to leave any wrappers lying around. Riko drank her bottled water and consumed her peanut butter sandwich, fruit gummies, chocolate pudding, taiyaki, and chocolate chip cookies quietly and politely, and made sure to throw away whatever trash she left behind. But when recess came around, she found herself calm enough to go to recess. After explaining everything to her friends, they all decided to bring up what happened earlier this morning, much to Kyoya's chagrin.

"Kyo-chan? I'm not asking this to be mean or anything but...don't you think you were a little harsh? You really didn't have to yell so much or call her all those mean names," Riko asked as shyly and politely as she could muster. Kyoya shot an angry look at her.

"No. She deserved it after what she, Daizo, and everyone else did to me!" Kyoya snapped vehemently.

"Don't get me wrong. In a way, she does deserve some punishment for leaving you behind, and I'm not saying you're in the wrong, but maybe she actually does realize what she's done. Maybe she's serious about wanting to make up with you," Anzu suggested.

"She told me so. She did tell me she was sorry," Riko piped in, echoing Anzu's argument.

"No she's not! If she really was sorry, she would have stayed away from the popular crowd long ago! You don't know her like I do!" Kyoya snapped again, his emerald eyes getting their angry glint back. "She used to be my best friend. But she cares way more about fitting in and being a shallow popular girl than a friend!"

"Actually, I noticed she's staying more and more away from Ryoko and their gang," Marina piped in.

"Besides, better late than never, right?" Riko said. "Also, I don't think hurting her feelings was the best way to go about it-"

"So what?! Do I look like I care about whether her so called feelings are hurt?! For all I know she probably doesn't have any feelings anymore, and I know for a fact that she's not sorry about what she did at all! She just doesn't want to be guilty anymore!" Kyoya yelled louder this time, causing Riko to cover her ears. But this time she didn't resort to crying. "Just drop it! Okay?! I want nothing more to do with that stupid, shallow, popularity-seeking idiot!" After that, he wheeled away.

"Kyo-chan…" Riko stood there helplessly as Kyoya wheeled away from their group in a hissy fit.

In a way, she could relate to him. Riko has had a lot of bad things done to her by kids and adults. They've done worse things than not be there for her when she needed them the most, and she most certainly wouldn't forgive them. How could she? But Fukiko was different. Riko wished she was there when he was left behind, so she could see the extent of their betrayal. Unlike the people who were mean to her, Fukiko actually did want to atone. She may have waited too long, but she did eventually apologize, and she actually did pour her heart out to Riko last week, so she can't be all bad. If she really wasn't sorry, she wouldn't have bothered to apologize in the first place. She wouldn't have done anything at all if she didn't want to genuinely patch things up with him. If she didn't have feelings or feel guilty, she wouldn't have been sad upon getting brutally rejected. Not only that, Riko and Marina noticed that Fukiko is, in fact, trying to break away from Ryoko's catty clique. In fact, she's leaning against the metal fence by herself right now, lost in the pit of despair. Riko wished she had some way to know if she was really sorry or not, but considering the fact that Fukiko broke down earlier, she had to be.

Kyoya, however, felt differently, which is understandable. All he did was sit in a part of the blacktop, sulking and staring at the scenery around him, without a care in the world. A boiling lava pit of anger and hatred bubbled in his proud little heart, unable to forget the cruel betrayal. How could he forgive her when she went along with Daizo and his friends in believing that now that he's in a wheelchair, he's nothing but dead weight to them, a permanent stain on their distinguished reputation in the school hierarchy? What gave them the right to discard him like trash when he's done so much for them? He wished people weren't so stupid and closed-minded. In his mind, he was right to yell at Fukiko and hurt her feelings. She deserved it! He had been dying to yell at her about it for a long while, and he felt nothing but happy about finally managing to do so. Serves her right! The bitter betrayal replayed in his mind.

(flashback)

_It had been about a week after he got released from the hospital. After so long, he's finally back in school, even though now he's in a wheelchair. An electric one, so he can get around on his own. He expected to be welcomed back with open arms, but nobody really cheered when he rolled into the classroom. They just stared at him like he was a strange, malformed thing in a circus. Kyoya didn't let this bother him, though. They're just not used to having people in wheelchairs around. He went about his day with a sunny face, even though he struggled to get around the many desks in the classrooms and the crowded hallways in between classes._

_However, things started to get sour when he tried to sit with Fukiko and Daizo at their usual lunch table in the cafeteria/auditorium. "Hey guys! Long time no see!" Kyoya waved to them cheerfully as he wheeled over to their lunch table. But he noticed that the chair he usually sits in is now occupied by Daizo's book bag, and nobody seemed to notice his arrival. He tried to sit with them by rolling into a space, but whenever he did, Daizo pulled his chair in front of him to keep him out. Some of Daizo's friends chuckled amongst themselves, which Kyoya found unsettling._

"_Umm...what's wrong?" Kyoya asked._

_Fukiko was about to say something until Daizo cut her off. "Things have changed."_

"_What do you mean? Where do I sit?"_

"At a different table!"

"_Why?"_

"_Just do it!"_

_Miffed at Daizo's sudden change, Kyoya wheeled away, his feelings hurt by his rejection. But he assumed it'd be a one time thing. He'd probably get used to it later on. They are best buds after all...or so Kyoya thought. Whenever he'd approach them at recess, Daizo, Fukiko, and their other friends would run away or join someone else, and whenever Kyoya would attempt to join them, he'd be shut out completely. Again, he assumed it was a one-time thing or that they were just playing around. But then it went on for another day. A whole week. Two weeks. Two whole weeks of being shunned and cast away by his friends. He grew more and more confused, sad, and angry. Why don't they want him around anymore, he kept asking himself. What did he do that was so bad? Is it because of his wheelchair? Have things changed that much since he's been away from school? Why are they acting like he's not worth it anymore? They used to do everything together and have fun. Now they're acting like he doesn't even exist! It didn't help that Marina, Yuji, and Yoshie began picking on him every chance they got._

"_You's a Four Eyed Cripple!"_

"_Get out of my face, you broken piece of junk!"_

"_Cripples don't belong in schools for normal people."_

_Finally, after a third week, he couldn't take it anymore. He wheeled in front of Daizo, Fukiko, and their friends with an angry, contorted face that demanded answers. "Okay, WHAT is the big deal?! What's with you all?! Ever since I've come back you've ignored me and shut me out of everything like I'm some kind of weirdo! What did I do that was so bad?! What happened?!"_

"_What happened is that you're like that!" Daizo shouted, pointing to his wheelchair._

"_So? What's that got to do with anything?" Kyoya asked, flummoxed by Daizo's reasoning for their shunning him._

"_Can't you take a hint?! You can't hang out with us anymore! You're a weirdo retard cripple now!" Daizo shouted._

_If arrows could be shot out of people's mouths, Kyoya certainly felt some pierce his normally proud little heart, sparing nothing. Daizo's outright discarding him and cutting off their friendship just because Kyoya's in a wheelchair? This had to be a dream! "No I'm not!"_

"_Yes you are! You used to be cool! _Normal_, like us! Now you're a freak! A stupid, crippled freak who's gotta have people do everything for you! We're not friends with no cripple kids, man!" Daizo yelled maliciously, causing his male friends to laugh._

_Kyoya's emerald eyes grew wider with every insult. "You're AGREEING with him?!" He cried out in desperation, sounding like he's about to burst into tears any minute. "Dude, I was in a car accident! You think I wanted this?! My brain's still okay, just so you know!"_

"_So we all agree that this cripple kid's not one of us, right?" Daizo asked everyone. His male friends nodded._

_Except Fukiko, who looked conflicted over whether to take his side or Kyoya's. The red haired, bespectacled boy looked at her with desperation in his eyes. "Fukiko! You don't agree with him, do you?! Who cares if I'm in a wheelchair?! That shouldn't matter! You don't care what he says, right?!" Kyoya cried with a begging tone, his voice trembling with sorrow._

_Fukiko looked away from him with sad eyes. Kyoya pleaded that she disagree with Daizo. Out of all of their friends, she was always the nicest, the most understanding, the most compassionate. Surely she could fix this whole misunderstanding and call Daizo out on his stupid betrayal and preconceived notion! Surely she wouldn't betray him! Sadly, for Kyoya, his prayers went unanswered. Fukiko took a few steps back. Toward Daizo's gang._

_That did it for Kyoya. His friends-now ex-friends-have not only decided to abandon him in his time of need, but betray him by discarding him like trash all because he's in a wheelchair. What's the big deal about being in a wheelchair? He just can't walk anymore. It's not like he's brain dead or anything. Why would they do this to him? Kyoya's heart suddenly boiled with a combination of both anger and bitterness. Without waiting for him to insult him some more, he wheeled away, leaving them to their social circle. Without him in it. They've completely cut him out all because they made a big deal about his being in a wheelchair._

_At night, when he went to bed, he couldn't go to sleep right off. His mind was haunted by Daizo's treachery, Fukiko's betrayal, and everything else. He clutched his pillow tightly with his hand, wishing he could just beat the stuffing out of it. He sat up, grabbed the pillow, and threw it across the room, knocking his Nintendo DS off of his bureau and onto the floor, causing it to make a clattering sound. Kyoya's eyes blurred more than usual, and not just because he doesn't have his glasses on. He suddenly felt warm water trickle down his cheeks. Unable to keep it in any longer, he buried his face into a nearby pillow and howled into it, wishing with all of his might that the accident never happened. If he had gotten out of the car, if he hadn't been playing his game so much, if he hadn't been so careless...perhaps they'd still like him. The boy he used to be-the one that had friends who liked him-is now gone. He cried loudly and passionately into his pillow, banging his little fists on it to beat the stuffing out of it. He wished he could turn back time. But no, that's impossible._

(end flashback)

"They can suck it for all I care…" Kyoya muttered to himself bitterly. "They deserve it. They all do."

* * *

A little earlier than this, in Rina's school, Hikaribashi Elementary School-second grade-Rina sat in her colorful classroom along with her many classmates as their slightly old teacher, an old woman in her late forties, handed out paper and crayons to every kid in the classroom.

"Alright, class! You've all been so good this past month, so we'll spend this time drawing. The subject for today is your whole family. Be sure to turn it in when the bell rings so we can hang them up during open house," The teacher told them in a peppy, energetic voice that was a little bit shrill. Rina grabbed a bunch of crayons from the bin and immediately began coloring. Unlike Riko, Rina isn't very good at drawing, but she doesn't care. She poured over the drawing, coloring everything, from their new house to every member of her family, including their pets, Yumiko the dog, and Caroline and Reese, their cats. Soon, the bell rang, and everyone turned in their drawings, including Rina.

It's time for lunch. But unlike Riko, who's been sitting at a lunch table with friends since the second day of school, it's been almost a month and Rina sits at a lunch table all by herself. Perhaps today will be a good day to finally make some friends. She approached one group of girls who are chatting amongst themselves until they stopped upon seeing Rina looking at them. "Hi!"

"Hello?"

"Oh! Is that taiyaki? I like it too! Can I join you?" Rina asked politely.

"No! Go sit somewhere else!" One girl said.

"Yeah! We don't like stupid people!" Another girl added.

Dejected, Rina turned around and tried another table. And another. And another. And another. All of them shunned her and refused to let her join them. She couldn't believe it. It's been almost a month and she still hasn't made one single friend! She ate her food, but she suddenly threw her bag of chocolate chip cookies on the floor. She suddenly began stepping on it with her foot, growling like an angry animal, oblivious to the fact that kids are staring at her. Then, the teacher arranged for everyone to stand in lines to go out for recess. This posed a great time for Rina to finally pop the question.

"Alright! I want answers NOW! Why don't you all wanna be my friend?!" Rina asked a group of her classmates in a loud, screechy voice. "What did I do to you that was so bad?!"

Everyone looked at her with scornful looks. One girl walked toward Rina with her arms crossed. "You wanna know why? Because you're mean and nasty and dumb!" The girl told her bluntly, without any sugarcoating.

"No I'm not!" Rina argued.

"Yes you are! I saw you picking on your big sister at the food store for no reason! In fact, that's all you ever talk about! Riko is bad this, Riko is bad that, Riko is a big baby, Riko is dumb and weird and stupid! We're all sick of it!" The girl argued back with gusto. "We don't like mean people, and you're mean!"

"That's right!" One boy echoed her argument. Everyone else nodded.

"But Riko really is dumb and weird! She's always crying over stupid stuff and making everybody stare at us and laugh at us! She watches TV shows for babies, likes to dress up like a cat, and pretend to be one! That's weird and not normal!" Rina protested.

"So? My big sister likes to dress up and watches cartoons with me. She's not bad!" One girl piped in.

"My big brother is kinda weird, but he's nice and helps me with my homework! He's not bad!" Another boy piped in.

"But...but…" Rina tried to protest until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to find one of the teachers looking at her.

"Rina. Can you come with me? Kesamaru-sensei wants to see you in her office," The teacher said before taking Rina by the hand and escorting her away from the crowd of children.

Rina couldn't believe what she just heard. They never even so much as met Riko, yet they're defending her and standing up for her like she's their friend and not Rina's. They don't like Rina because she's mean to Riko even though they've never seen her cry in class, dress up in animal clothes, pretend to be a cat, or say weird things she's not supposed to. Why do they like Riko when they haven't met her? As far as Rina's concerned, they're not supposed to like Riko! She's not normal! People who aren't normal aren't supposed to be liked! Rina's normal. She gets good grades, is talkative, gets better grades than her, and knows better than to be weird. But why are her classmates siding with Riko, not her? This was different at her last school. Rina was really confused. Soon, Rina found herself sitting in front of a round table, with a woman in her late fifties on the other side, with a head of caramel colored hair in a flouncy ponytail. But she didn't look very happy.

"Hello, Rina. We need to talk," The woman, Mrs. Kesamaru, told her kindly. Her voice had a touch of grimness lurking in it, like she was dead serious about what she wanted to talk about.

"What did I do?" Rina asked frightfully, having a gut feeling that whatever they wanted to talk about wasn't going to be nice and friendly.

Ms. Kesamaru pulled out the drawing Rina made for class earlier today. It's Rina's crude drawing of everyone in her family...except there's no Riko in it. Instead, there's a tall, yellow haired girl with tan skin, wearing a choppy pink outfit, choppy because of Rina's cursory coloring skills. Rina drew herself next to her, smiling and happy, just like everyone else in her drawing. "Tell me. You have a sister named Riko, right?"

"Yes."

"How come she's not in this picture?"

"Yeah she is. She's right there," Rina pointed to the yellow haired person in the drawing.

"I've met your sister before. She has short black hair. This person has long, yellow hair," Ms. Kesamaru explained. Although her gaze is kind, the tone of her voice is serious and icy, not in the mood for any jokes or friendly chit chat.

"I know. That's Riko."

"No it's not. If it's Riko, why did you draw her with yellow hair?"

"That's still Riko, only that's what I pretend she's looks like. Beautiful with yellow hair, normal, not weird, doesn't scream at everything, doesn't dress like an animal, doesn't pretend to be one, wears normal people clothes, and doesn't do weird stuff like jump around, do that flappy thing with her hands, all that weirdo people stuff," Rina explained.

Mrs. Kesamaru facepalmed, sighed, and shook her head, like she heard a ridiculous excuse to play hooky or something. Rina titled her head to one side in confusion. "The kids tell me you say mean things about Riko every day. Do you say mean things to her a lot?"

"Yeah. If I do, it'll make her normal."

"Who told you that?"

"The kids at my other school. They said if I keep doing it, they'll be my friend, and it worked. Mom and Dad keep telling me to stop, but they don't know it works."

Mrs. Kesamaru facepalmed again. Well, for what it's worth, she had to at least give Arinao and Saki credit for trying to teach her right, even if it's not going well. "Rina. You can't go on like this. That's not a good way to treat your sister, nor is it a way to make friends. Everyone has a place in this world and in a family. Are you really that convinced being mean to your sister is going to magically make her autism go away? That's not how life works, Rina."

"But...but...she's weird and dumb! I don't have friends because of her! She's always making people stare at us with her crying over stupid stuff! She ruined by 5th birthday party because she wanted to turn off my boom box and I wouldn't let her!" Rina protested, surprised that even the teacher is agreeing with the kids. "She did it to make me look bad!"

"Did she really?" Mrs. Kesamaru asked sternly, not convinced. "I see what the problem is. Did you know I have an older brother who still wears diapers?"

"Really? That's so weird!" Rina exclaimed without any hesitation, her eyes wide with surprise. There are grown ups who act like babies? That sounded gross. Such a concept was quite alien to her. Mrs. Kesamaru didn't seem to be fazed by Rina's blunt and inopportune response to that.

"Actually, no he doesn't."

"Huh? But you just said-"

"I lied. He doesn't wear diapers and is capable of looking after himself. I see what the problem is."

"What do you see?"

"You're gullible."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"It means you think everything you hear is true, even the silliest of lies. I told you that lie so I could see if you would fall for it or not, which you did, which proves that you're gullible, and we really need to work on that, especially in regards to your sister and making friends. Speaking of which, those kids at your last school were lying to you. Picking on Riko is NOT going to make her normal nor will it help you make friends. You hurt her feelings if you do that."

"But the kids at my other school say people like her don't have any feelings."

"Really? She smiles when she's happy, she cries when she's sad, and she's angry when someone does something wrong. Those are feelings. Everyone has feelings. Let me put it this way: if Riko really didn't have feelings, she wouldn't be sad when you say mean things to her. Telling someone they're bad just because they're different hurts their feelings, and I'm sure Riko's feelings have been hurt quite a lot."

Rina shut her mouth right then. She had a point. Riko definitely laughed whenever she was happy, cried when she was sad, and yelled when she was angry. Yes, there were times when Riko DID cry when Rina said and did particularly mean things to her. Rina couldn't possibly deny all of that. She's seen it with her own eyes and heard it with her own ears. "Rina. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure you're a good girl in your own way. But a lot of what you've been taught by the kids at your other school is wrong, and what you're doing to Riko is wrong, too. Riko's a person just like you are, and you should never be cruel to someone who's different or behaves in different ways than usual just because you don't like it. Different doesn't mean bad, and there are ways we can learn to live with someone's eccentricities and accept them for who they are. Pretending she doesn't exist and wishing for her autism to just go away is not a good way to go about it. There's a lot we need to work on here."

"How do you know? You don't have a weirdo sister who pretends she's a cat and cries a lot and makes people stare at you and does that flappy thing with her hands and watches stuff she's too old for! I just want to be normal and have friends!" Rina shouted, hoping to be able to contradict her this time.

"I may not have any siblings who are autistic, but I've helped a lot of autistic children since I started working here, and everyone is different. But here in this school, we do not shun someone because they're different. Here, we treat everyone with respect and kindness. Don't you want to be treated with respect? Doesn't Riko want to be treated with respect?"

"But people who are different aren't normal!" Rina protested.

"Rina. Let me ask you...what _is_ normal to you?"

"Uh…" Rina had to wonder herself. What IS normal? She knew she had some definition of what it meant based on what the kids at her other school told her (or tricked her into believing), but how could she put it into words? Then again, she doesn't have to pull a definition straight out of a dictionary. "Well...I know girls are normal by wearing pretty dresses and jewelry, talking about boys, playing with Barbies, wearing nail polish, putting on makeup, and boys are normal by riding skateboards and scooters, picking their noses-blech!-pushing each other, playing sports, watch cartoons, being messy and rude, all that stuff."

"Not all girls wear makeup or wear dresses, and not all boys play sports and pick their noses. In fact, there are lots of boys who like girl stuff and girls who like boy stuff. I have a little boy, and he loves My Little Pony, and all of his friends do, too."

"Boys can't like My Little Pony! It's for girls! Boys don't like girly stuff!"

"There's lots of boys who like girly stuff. In fact, there are grown up men who like girly stuff and are okay with it. What you're doing right now is called stereotyping. It's when the forces that be try to put everybody in a box and expect them to stay in there forever because they're afraid of change, or because it's supposedly how it is, or because they don't like it. They don't bother to see the rest of the person. You have to get the whole picture if you want to know someone or be friends with them. That's a nice thing to do. Your father tells me Riko is very nice, gets good grades, isn't good at math, loves cats, cartoons, and drawing. But you don't want to see these things. All you see is the bad in her. You can't live your life seeing only the bad in people, or thinking their good qualities are bad, and expecting them to change because you're not okay with it."

Rina found herself shrinking into her seat with shame and rue. She brought up some really good points, and any time she tried to contradict her, Mrs. Kesamaru always managed to gain the upper hand. _'How does she always know what to say? She read me like a map!'_ Rina thought shamefully. She really didn't want to deal with all of this. Not only that, she isn't sure she knows how. But Mrs. Kesamaru is definitely right about one thing: Rina can't make friends if she keeps picking on Riko, even though her classmates haven't met her before. But still...why does she still feel angry inside? Why does she feel like she wants to explode at any moment? Rina wished she knew the answer. All she knew for sure was that Mrs. Kesamaru isn't going to put up with her mean-spirited behavior anymore. But she didn't want to believe what those kids told her at the other school was a lie. If they were really lying, then she wouldn't have been successful in making friends with them before she moved.

She didn't want to believe everything she's been taught by her classmates at her previous school was a lie.

The incident on her 5th birthday was real, Rina knew that much. She found herself going back to that day, when she and her many classmates stuffed their faces with cake, M&M's, potato chips, and lots of other candies, dressing up in wild and crazy outfits, bouncing around the room singing loudly while a boom box played a loud Kanye West song at almost full volume. To Rina, this was the best birthday party ever. Everyone was having fun...except a wide eyed, mortally terrified, ten-year-old Riko, who is sitting in a corner of the room, frozen, with her ears being pressed on by her little hands, eyes wide with fear, unable to move. Everything inundated her at once: the children screaming, the horrible rap music, the loud boom box. Riko wanted to run away, but she couldn't leave the house, nor could she move at all. The music was absolutely deafening, and it paralyzed Riko in it's clutches. Saki tried to tell Rina to turn the volume down for Riko's sake, but she and everyone else protested. Finally, she broke out of the corner and pressed the off button on the boom box, causing the horrible rap music to finally cease. Some little kids protested and turned it back on, much to Riko's horror. Rina watched, her face red with humiliation, as Riko fought with the other kids. But when the volume suddenly got turned up even louder than usual, that's when Riko suddenly began screaming and crying at the top of her lungs, causing everyone to stop and stare while Saki scrambled into the room to calm her down and turn off the boom box. Right after that, the kids all left, which meant that the party got canceled, and the only noise left was a bawling Riko.

Rina shook the memory out of her mind. _'No! Riko completely ruined my birthday party! I don't see why I have to stop being mean to her! She deserves it for making everybody hate me back then!'_ Rina thought. She wanted to tell Mrs. Kesamaru this, but somewhere in her soul, she knew the latter would be very angry if she did, so she decided not to. But for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, anger swirled around in her little heart like a whirlpool. Not only that, Mrs. Kesamaru kept using the words autism and autistic to describe Riko, just like Saki and Arinao did. What is autism and autistic? She wanted to ask Mrs. Kesamaru, but she couldn't. The bell suddenly rang, which means recess is over and it's time for class again.

* * *

At 3:00 PM, the final bell's ringing resounded throughout Hikaribashi Middle School, and a tsunami of children stormed out of the school building, rejoicing in their freedom for the rest of the day. Saki picked up Riko and Rina like usual. When they got home, Riko stormed to her room, happy to be back. She pulled out some paper and began drawing Moomins and Twilight Cat. At about 3:30 PM, however, Saki heard a knock at the door. She answered it to find Anzu, Marina, and Kyoya on the front porch. Anzu's wearing her usual black hoodie and bondage pants, only her pants now have green stitching on them, making them look like they could glow in the dark, along with purple tennis shoes and a white sleeveless top underneath her black hoodie. Marina is wearing a bright, sunny yellow sweater, dark blue jeans, and black and white sneakers. Kyoya is wearing a short sleeved, olive green shirt underneath a cobalt bluish grey tactical vest, lighter blue jeans, and white sneakers. The fairies are with them, but Saki doesn't notice, as they're all sitting in Anzu's hood, pretending to be stuffed animals.

"Oh! Hello, kids! I didn't expect to see you here. How are you doing?" Saki told them, surprised by their sudden and unprecedented appearance.

"We heard Riko got upset at school today, so we wanted to come by and see if she's alright, if that's okay with you," Anzu explained lucidly, with some concern in the eyes hidden behind her round, coke bottle glasses.

"Sure! She'll be happy to see you. Come on inside. I made some blueberry muffins if you want some," Saki told them kindly as she invited them into the house.

"I love blueberry muffins! Can I have one? Please?" Marina suddenly exclaimed cheerfully, her normally sullen and cautious golden eyes suddenly sparkling at the thought of getting a nice blueberry muffin. Saki laughed.

"Sure, sweetie," Saki said as Anzu was the first to run up the stairs and find Riko's room. Once Marina got a blueberry muffin, she went after her. Kyoya slowly crawled up the stairs, taking greater care than usual. Finally, they got to Riko's room, where they found her and Moonbeam drawing on the floor.

"An-chan?! Kyo-chan?! Mari-chan?! Fairies?! What are you all doing here?" Riko yelped as the fairies went to greet Moonbeam.

"We felt bad about not being able to help you when you broke down in math class, so we came to hang out for a while. Is that okay?" Kyoya said.

"Sure! I'm so happy you came! Thanks!" Riko said with a smile as she sat on her bed.

"Kyoya-kun's really good at math, so he can help you with it," Marina piped in.

"Thanks! I stink at math," Riko said sheepishly.

"Me too! Math has never been my best subject," Moonbeam said.

"You're probably way better at it than me," Riko told her.

"Are these your drawings? They're really cute!" Anzu crooned sweetly as she took a look at one of Riko's Twilight Cat drawings.

The kids got so lost in their happily palavering that they failed to notice Rina standing dumbfounded and flabbergasted at the entrance to Riko's room. Rina felt a pang of envy shoot right through her heart like a savage's arrow and tear it up into tiny little tattered pieces. Riko has friends. Real friends, not imaginary ones. True, she's known that for a while, but she still hasn't gotten used to it. She expected Riko to be lonely and friendless forever, and it'd all be her (Riko's) fault because she's so eccentric and odd. But no, she has friends who like her and the same things she likes. She's talking happily, laughing, receiving clarification on Mr. Ikari's math lesson. Why couldn't Rina have friends to talk to? Why can't Rina have people to talk to, laugh with, gossip with, and help with their homework? Rina wished she had someone to play Barbies with, play dress up with, play board games with, and all of those things Riko is doing right now and she is. Rina clutched her skirt tightly, her teeth grinding and her dark green eyes suddenly burning with the blazing flames of envy, just like her heart.

Now she realized why she's so angry. All of a sudden, the anger finally burst out.

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE FRIENDS!" Rina shouted at the top of her lungs, causing the older kids to stop talking and turn their heads to the entrance. Riko hid behind Anzu, cowed by Rina's extremely loud and screechy outburst. Kyoya silently gave her the stinkeye. "You're weird and stupid and dumb and ruin everything! Everything bad that happened to me is your fault! People like you aren't supposed to have friends! Why do you have friends and not me?! I'm the normal one! I'm the one who's supposed to have friends! I'm better than you at everything, but...why?! You're not even supposed to have any feelings! And yet…" Tears suddenly began bubbling out of Rina's eyes, dripping off of her chin and dissolving onto Riko's hardwood floor. "...nobody likes me anymore! I'm the normal one and yet...I don't...have any friends…it's your fault I don't have any friends!"

Marina and Anzu couldn't believe what they were hearing. This is what Riko's little sister is like? They've heard stories about how bratty and annoying Rina behaves and the mean things she says to Riko on a daily basis, but at first, they thought she was exaggerating, not that they didn't believe her. But...to think her little seven-year-old sister would go this far. Claiming she's supposed to not have friends? Call her stupid, dumb, and weird right in full view of other people? Claim she doesn't have feelings? Use her as a scapegoat for everything bad that happens in her life? Claim she's better than her in every way? It seems Riko isn't exaggerating after all. Rina wanted to go on, but she got cut off.

"All of that is YOUR fault!" Rina looked up tearfully to see Kyoya looking at her with an extremely austere and icy look, like he's been dying to call her out on everything. And he wasted absolutely NO time doing so. "It's because you keep bullying Riko, blaming her for everything, and wishing her autism would go away that nobody likes you! Nobody likes people who do nothing but be mean to people and wish everything about them could be erased because they don't like it!" Kyoya cried out venomously, his honest yet poisonous words razor sharp. "And you have some nerve trying to blame Riko for everything bad that goes on in your life! You're the one ruining your own life because you care more about being popular and liked by everyone than being a good sister! Sisters do drive each other nuts, but they care for each other and try to help each other, not wish they came out differently because they have things they don't like! Being a sister isn't about trying to fix someone so they can be happy! It's about living with what they have and seeing the good in it!"

"Uh...Kyo-chan? I think-" Riko tried to cut him off, but he kept on going, paying her absolutely no heed whatsoever.

"Who told you all of this garbage about autistic people having no feelings? Huh?! Who told you?!"

"My friends at my last school! They said if I'm mean to her, they'll be my friends! It worked before!"

"Well, they're wrong! They lied to you! All they did was take advantage of you and use you to make themselves look good! They've warped your mind! You call Riko stupid and dumb, but honestly, that describes YOU more than anything!" Kyoya yelled. He couldn't stop himself. He was on a roll. He left Rina absolutely speechless. Her frightened green eyes became wider and wider, becoming a sea of confusion. "What if something bad happened to Riko? What if she got seriously hurt or even died?! Would you be happy about that?!"

"No!"

"If something DID happen to Riko, would you WANT her to die?!"

"NO!"

"Would you be happy if you saw someone else be mean to her or even hurt her?! HUH?!"

"No no no no!" Rina screamed, stamped her feet, and flapped her little fists up and down.

"Kyoya-kun! Please, calm down! You might want to-" Even Marina tried to make him stop, but Kyoya paid her no heed.

"Nobody's gonna change everything about themselves, especially things that CAN'T be changed, just because you don't like it, and you don't get to decide things for them either, like whether they can have friends or not! How do you think Riko feels when you're mean to her and call her names?! You say she has no feelings, but she gets picked on by people all the time, and just earlier today she cried her eyes out because she couldn't understand today's math lesson! How is that any different from when you're sad about something?! Do you think it's okay for you to be sad and not okay for Riko to be sad? Do you think it's okay for you to have friends and not Riko?! Do you seriously think it's okay to be mean to her and not when others are mean to you?! Huh?! Answer me!"

Rina looked down at the floor silently, balling her frail little fists. She grinded her teeth. God, she really wanted to contradict him! But what could she say? How could she argue with him and win? Her heart kept telling her he's wrong, but doubts began sprouting in her heart. She couldn't say anything more after that. All of a sudden, Saki came into the room with a flummoxed look on her face. "What's going on in here?"

Kyoya didn't care that Saki was in here. Rina's stunned, tearful silence gave Kyoya the answer he needed, and it felt great to call Rina out on her cruel behavior. "You're such a spoiled little brat! Grow up and get over it! The world doesn't revolve around you!"

"I think that's enough!" Riko suddenly stammered nervously, trying to make sure her mom doesn't get angry. But then again, she might have heard the whole thing considering how loud both of their voices are, and their house isn't exactly soundproof. Rina just stood there, frozen in stunned silence, with tears bubbling out of her eyes, streaming down her contorted, chubby face. Saki silently and gently took Rina by the hand and escorted her to her room. As soon as she went in, her soft, high pitched whimpering exploded into full on, unadulterated bawling that resounded throughout the entire house. Riko closed the door, which managed to muffle the sound quite a bit.

"Uhh...you really didn't have to go that far, y'know. Maybe you should have let Saki handle it. She is Rina's mother after all," Moonbeam told him.

"Sorry. I just absolutely hate it when people demonize others and think they're so much better than them just because they feel like they have to make people's disabilities or weaknesses a big deal," Kyoya told them bitterly. Fukiko and Daizo's betrayal flashed through his mind again. "I've already been through it. I don't want you going through it, Riko, and she's your sister! You've wanted to call her out on it for a long time, haven't you?"

"Uhh...well, yeah, you're right about that, but I'm never able to come up with the right words, and usually when I do, Mom or Dad tell us to stop yelling or Rina never lets me finish," Riko told him upon further rumination.

"I don't think ripping her apart like that was the best way to go about it," Sunbeam reasoned.

"So? Someone's gotta tell it like it is! Why can't I? It's when people tell it like it is people actually get what they've done wrong! You can't go around sugarcoating stuff! Sometimes, you have to hurt someone's feelings-if they have any at all-if it'll make them realize the errors of their ways!" Kyoya protested.

"I don't like sugarcoating stuff either, so I get you. But Rina's seven years old. She probably doesn't understand half of what you told her," Marina said.

"She has to. I'm sick of watching her treat you like you're inhuman!" Kyoya told Riko. "Someone's gotta give her a reality check."

"Spoken like a true friend, Kyo-chan!" Lovebeam piped in.

Although Riko agreed he went too far in yelling at both Fukiko and Rina, deep in the confines of her little heart, she's actually happy that Kyoya finally called Rina out on her mean spirited behavior. True, he could have done it in a nicer fashion that involved less yelling, but she did agree that she really needed a reality check, and he's right in that the world doesn't revolve around her. Riko had been dying to call Rina out on her stupid preconceived notions for years now, but she just wasn't able to come up with the right words for it. That, and whenever she would yell at her, Rina would either not let her finish or play the victim and say something like, _"MOOOM! Riko's yelling at meeee!"_ Riko always hated when Rina did that. Not only that, if Riko was caught yelling at Rina, she'd be told to use her indoor voice or have the fact that Rina is seven years old and doesn't know better hammered into her cranium again, like usual. Yes, Rina doesn't know better, and she is seven years old, but that didn't mean she didn't deserve to get called out on for her selfishness and tendency to try and make everything all about her and insistence on telling everybody who doesn't want to listen that Riko is the reason for everything bad in her life, which she isn't.

"Thanks, Kyo-chan," Riko whispered shyly.

"Don't mention it, Ri-chan. Sorry I had to do it in front of you. I know you hate yelling," Kyoya replied in a softer, kinder voice this time.

* * *

Around the same time the trio of well meaning friends went to Riko's house to try and comfort her, Kayoko heard a knock on her own door. She went to answer it to find Fukiko trembling on the front ramp. She's wearing her dark green scrunchie, her green clover earrings, a lime green and turquoise dress with a small yellow belt on it, a short sleeved beige jean jacket, snow white socks, and brown shoes.

"Fukiko-chan!" Kayoko exclaimed upon opening the door. "It's been such a long time! Come on in!" Reluctantly, Fukiko stepped inside and sat on the living room couch. "Can I get you anything? A glass of juice? Water?"

"Actually…" Fukiko stammered shyly. She really couldn't understand why Kayoko was so bubbly and energetic, like she was happy to see her. She felt like she didn't deserve it. "Is Kyoya here by any chance?"

"Unfortunately, no. He went to Riko-chan's house to be with her. He said something about her having a little meltdown in math class and wanting to help her out," Kayoko explained as she sat down next to Fukiko.

The green dressed girl's broken pieces of her heart sank further into the desolate, despondent depths of her chest cavity. She knew about Riko's meltdown. She saw it in class. They share the same math class, and she sits within Riko's vicinity, so she couldn't help but see and hear it. She found it unsettling, but not enough to decide to change her opinion about her. Her eyesight began to blur, and she knew why. "I see. He's so nice to her. He's a good friend...unlike me…" Her voice choked upon saying that part part. That's when the tears started to flow for real, just like earlier when Kyoya gave her an epic _'reason you suck'_ speech. She found herself burying her face in her hands and sobbing uncontrollably. "Kayoko-san...I'm so sorry for everything I've done to Kyoya-kun! I've been so absolutely horrible to him for the past year and a half all because I'm a stupid stupid stupid little idiot!"

Kayoko's heart went out to the girl. She slowly and gently wrapped her arms around the crying girl and pulled her close. "There there."

"I...I tried to apologize to him today, but he doesn't believe I really feel bad about what I've done...he thinks I just don't want to feel guilty anymore...and that I'm not truly sorry…" Fukiko sobbed and cried into her hands, unable to stop. Her chest hurt from too much crying, but she couldn't stop no matter what. "I've been so horrible to him! He's right! I'm an awful person! I never even bothered to find out which hospital he went to so I could visit him! I betrayed him when he needed me the most! I...I want to apologize again, but...it probably won't work. He can hate me forever. You can, too. I deserve it! I deserve all the punishment and hate in the world! He's done so much for me...I've known him since 3rd grade and I completely dropped him like I thought he was dog doo-doo!"

Kayoko didn't say anything throughout Fukiko's bawling. She continued to embrace the girl who poured out her heartfelt woes. Unlike Kyoya, Kayoko could tell Fukiko's tears and words were genuine and unfeigned. Fukiko finds herself reprehensible for her deed, and unlike Kyoya, who doesn't think his ex-friend feels remorse for what she did, Kayoko could tell right away that the crying girl is definitely remorseful. If she didn't feel remorse, she wouldn't have come all the way here trying to find him and make up with him. If she truly didn't feel guilty or remorseful, she wouldn't be bawling like this in her arms. If that kind of gesture wasn't a genuine, heartfelt display for remorse and an unfeigned wish to atone, then she didn't know what is. Kayoko stroke Fukiko's back gently, hoping this would reassure her a bit.

"I'm glad you're being honest with me. Thank you for at least doing this much," Kayoko whispered kindly. "Some teachers told me about him yelling at you earlier. I'm sorry he's so blunt. He has a tendency to be a little too honest for his own good, and ends up hurting people's feelings. I don't approve of what you've done, but I'm at least happy that now you realize the error of your ways."

"No. It's fine. I deserved it. I...I know I probably don't deserve this, but...I...I really want to make it up to him. Let him know I don't think of him as a cripple anymore. No, I KNOW he's not a cripple. I know, that's a mean word to say, but everyone at school says it, and it makes me mad to hear them call him that. But I'm too much of a stupid coward to tell them to stop...how do I make it up to him and you?" Fukiko asked, her own tear filled eyes looking right into Kayoko's eyes.

"Since you couldn't be there for him back then...I think he'd really appreciate it if you could be there for him now. Hold on just a second," Kayoko told her kindly before walking toward the kitchen to get something. She came back and handed her a piece of paper, with the address of a physical therapy center written on it in hiragana and kanji. "This is the place Kyo-chan goes for physical therapy on weekends, sometimes on weekdays, like Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday."

"Oh! My mom and I drive past this place when we go to the bank or the food store!" Fukiko exclaimed, her voice croaking a little due to too much crying.

"He also does physical therapy in the nurse's office during gym class," Kayoko said.

"Thanks for telling me this. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I took so long to...even apologize."

"Better late than never, right?"

"Actually...I had been wanting to apologize for him for the past few months now. I just...never had the courage. Tasogare-san convinced me to go through with it...even though I crashed and burned."

"Do you mean Riko-chan?"

"Yeah, the new girl. Kyoya-kun likes her a lot, and I'm happy for them. No, not in a romantic way. My mom yelled at me about my behavior long before she moved here, but...seeing them laughing together and talking together...and Riko not being freaked out by his being in a wheelchair...made me realize what a stupid idiot I've been for abandoning him like that. She's been really nice to me, but I think it's because she doesn't know what a bad person I've been for the past few months."

"That may be true, but I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Plus, I think Riko-chan knew you wanted to make up with him and probably gave you the nudge you needed," Kayoko told her.

Fukiko clutched the paper in her little hands. "Yeah. I'd like to be friends with her, but I don't know...we're probably waaaay too different to be friends. I like fashion, going shopping, being a cheerleader, wearing dresses and skirts, and collecting magazines with cute boys on them. She looks like the type who's not into that stuff, not that I mind."

"You don't have to have the exact same interests in order to be friends. I was friends with a girl when I was your age and she and I were as different as night and day. I was very into watching Toku anime, like Kamen Rider, and playing the piano while she liked to dream about getting married and play tennis and go on and on about any cute boy that walked onto the school premises," Kayoko told her cheerfully.

"Isn't Kamen Rider for boys?"

"Nope! Boys are allowed to watch girl stuff just as much as girls are allowed to watch boy stuff. The world is changing, and sometimes change is good."

The two of them giggled merrily. "Thanks for listening to me."

"You're welcome, sweetie. But if you do want to make it up to Kyoya, I think it'd be best if you waited a bit until he's in a better mood. Let things cool down a bit. In fact, you don't even have to say it with words. I think he'd appreciate it if you'd come to his physical therapy sessions every once in a while, just so he knows that you'll be there for him this time. He tends to be really grumpy and cranky when he's in a bad mood. Believe me, I learned the hard way."

"I'll bet."

Although her chest hurts from too much crying, Fukiko left the Mitomo house with a light heart and a strong resolve.

* * *

"Decebal! Check me out!"

At the top of a set of stairs, Beileag entered the room like she was Cinderella about to dance with her prince charming. But instead of wearing an overly grandiose and extravagantly beautiful, lacy, and poofy dress, she's wearing a fairly simple but pretty, sleeveless, pale purple dress that goes to her knees, with a lace border on the chest part and the straps. Beileag also put on matching purple shoes and purple scrunchies to set off her indigo colored pigtails. Instead of being delighted by Beileag's regal entrance, simply dressed as she is, he just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Uhh...you went shopping again, didn't you, Billie?" Decebal asked with Zenjin's cold medicine in his gloves.

"Not the whole time! I really did try to look for any schools that are by the ocean! But there's just sooooo many in all of Japan, I never know where to start! It doesn't help that Zenjin doesn't even remember other details like the name or what it looks like, not that I can blame him. But I did stop by a cute little clothes store and I found this lovely little dress! As soon as I saw it, I knew I just had to have it! Do you like it? Does it look good on me? I got it for really cheap, too! Can you believe it?" Beileag asked cheerfully as she twirled around, the skirt floating in the air as she spun like a ballerina. She really made the dress come alive.

"You look beautiful, Billie. But don't wear it in front of Zenjin. You know how he is with dresses," Decebal told her in a well intentioned warning voice.

"I know, I know. But I shouldn't be denied my right to look nice and classy, now should I? It's not like he's the boss of me," Beileag said.

What neither of them knew was that Zenjin walked into the room, and he happened to glance at Beileag at the top of the stairs. As soon as his bloody red eyes fixated on Beileag-particularly her nice little purple ensemble-they suddenly grew extremely big, blazing with bloodlust. Before anyone could react, Beileag could feel an explosion right beneath her legs, sending her flying. Thankfully for her, Decebal managed to get her out of the giant puff of smoke that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. As soon as the smoke cleared, however…

"Aaaagh! My brand new dress is ruined!" Beileag whined upon seeing part of her dress ripped and tattered, covered with laser marks. As she got out of Decebal's arms, she suddenly felt a fist lift her up by the shirt. Soon, she found herself making eye contact with an extremely choleric Zenjin, whose bloodthirsty eyes are so big and so wide they looked as though they could pop out of his face at any moment.

"NEVER. EVER. _EVER_. WEAR THIS _TRASH_ IN FRONT OF ME EVER AGAIN!" Zenjin told her in a cold, austere, icy, low voice at first, then outright screamed at the top of his lungs right in Beileag's face, his already high pitched voice going up an octave or two. Some spit flew onto Beileag's face. Before she could push him off, he yanked on one of the straps of her dress with such force that it ripped right off.

"Yeek!" Beileag pushed him off this time, clutching what remained of her poor, pitiful, tattered, smoke covered, hole covered dress. "Will you calm down?!"

"NO! You're wearing that trash! That's why! Take it off RIGHT NOW!" Zenjin yelled before Decebal waltzed in between the two.

"You're not the boss of me!" Beileag snapped.

"Billie. Go change into something else. You'll save yourself from getting killed," Decebal told her calmly.

Beileag sighed and rolled her eyes at the same time. "Fiiiine…" After that, she went into her room and changed into her usual hippie clothes while Decebal went into the kitchen to make something for Zenjin. But when they both came back…

"Uhh...where's Zen-chan?" Beileag asked upon noticing he's not in his room anymore.

Decebal looked all throughout the fortress. He looked everywhere: in the kitchen, in the empty rooms where they do their experiments, in Beileag's room, in Decebal's room, nothing. No Zenjin. Decebal facepalmed. "Ugh...he must have gone to Earth again! He still has a cold! He'll get sicker if he keeps running off like this!"

* * *

"Hey guys!" Hikage chirped happily as he and Hotaru walked into the living room, where Riko, Anzu, and Marina are playing a round of Jenga.

"Hi, Niichan! Hi, Hotaru-chan!" Riko greeted them as she put a block on top of the staggering tower of Jenga blocks.

"Is that Jenga? I haven't played that in years!" Hotaru exclaimed.

"Where's Kyoya? Doesn't he normally hang out with you?" Hikage asked, noticing that Kyoya isn't among them.

"He had to leave early. Curfew," Anzu piped in as Marina tried to pull out a block, only to have it tumbling down in a frenzy.

"Dawww! I want a rematch!" Marina complained as she picked some blocks off of her lap and put them on the table.

"Want to join us, Hotaru-san?" Anzu asked politely.

All of a sudden, Lovebeam's long ears stood straight up in alarm. She floated over to Anzu. "An-chan," Lovebeam whispered, and then whispered something in her ears. Anzu gestured everyone to come closer, which they did, and heard what Lovebeam had to say..

"Uhh...Hikage? Is it okay if we all go for a walk?" Riko asked.

"Sure! Just don't stay out too long. Mom's gonna cook dinner soon, and keep your house key with you!" Hikage called back.

"Thanks!" Riko said as they put the blocks back in the Jenga box and bolted out the door.

"Girls, are you ready?" Hotaru asked.

The girls nodded.

* * *

Upon leaving Kyoya's house, Fukiko sighed. She was about to walk some more until she saw Kyoya wheeling toward her a little further away. She found a nearby tree and hid behind it, thinking he might not be in the the mood to see her. But when she looked up, she saw someone sitting in the leafy branches of the tree she's hiding behind. Someone with shimmery silver hair and a red cape, angry chomping on an apple. What Kyoya didn't know is that a pair of bloodthirsty red eyes have fixated on him, and he was going to regret wheeling past that tree. All of a sudden, he felt something hard bonk the back of his head, which tumbled onto the sidewalk. He looked down to find a half eaten apple on the sidewalk.

Then sound of laughter caused him to look up at the tree he's in front of...only to find Zenjin is the one laughing at him like he saw a funny movie. "That's what you get for being a pitiful creature! Did I forget to mention that you don't exist?!"

Fukiko couldn't believe what this silver haired kid was saying. He's calling him a pitiful creature, telling him he doesn't exist! How can he be so rude and mean? Fukiko knew she did something that was reprehensible, but at least she never went as far as to tell him he's pitiful or that he doesn't exist. She isn't that stupid. She wanted to scold him, but she could tell he looked dangerous, and she doesn't know any martial arts or self-defense skills, so she kept herself scarce. All of a sudden, Zenjin leaped in front of Kyoya, wanting to strangle him like he wanted to on their first meeting. Unfortunately for him, a fiery music note bereaved him of the opportunity.

"Dusk Medley!"

Zenjin leaped away the minute the burning musical note came flying at him. Thankfully, it didn't hit Kyoya in any way. When he flew a safe distance away from the burning note, out came the Pretty Cure, gracefully descending in between them with austere looks on their faces.

"Up to your old tricks again, eh? We're not going to let you whatever it is you plan on doing!" Anzu edicted.

'_WHAT?! Superheroes?! I...I heard the stories but I thought it was a movie or just a bunch of baloney!'_ Fukiko thought, dumbfounded and flabbergasted by their regal appearance. Super heroes actually exist now?

"We will banish the darkness with the light from our hearts! We are the luminous quartet! LuminousQ Pretty Cure!"

'_Pretty Cure? Isn't that an anime I used to watch when I was younger? Is it still going on? They're actually REAL?!'_ Fukiko thought again, even more flabbergasted than before.

"Yay! Trashy outlets for my frustration! Take this, you trash!" Zenjin yelled as he fired a black ball of light at the girls, only for it to be knocked away by Cure Starlight's naginata.

"We are NOT your outlets!" Cure Starlight edicted in a strong, booming voice that was not going to bow down to this cocky little silver haired brat.

"Kyo-chan. Go somewhere safe," Cure Twilight whispered.

"Okay. Be careful," Kyoya said before wheeling away. But he didn't intend to leave the scene. He thinks their battles with Zenjin are cool, so he hid somewhere where it was likely he wouldn't be seen. Starbeam followed him, staying with him for precautionary reasons.

Cure Twilight was the first to act, attempting to land some punches on the cocky silver haired boy, but he managed to evade every single one of them just by moving his body in different directions. All of a sudden, he grabbed one of Cure Twilight's arms and threw her against a tree, the same one Fukiko is hiding behind. She got back on her feet, but Cure Dusk unleashed another Dusk Medley on him. Zenjin made a black force field around himself. When he took it down, Cure Dusk tried to unleash a flurry of kicks and punches, only to be punched in the stomach and sent flying. Cure Dawn tried swinging her nunchucks at him, but he caught them and yanked them out of her hand. She did manage to step on his cape and make him slip and fall, allowing her to both get her nunchucks back and kick him. But he retaliated via another energy blast. Then Cure Starlight tried to ambush him with a Starlight Shower, but he not only knocked all the stars away, he shot another energy blast at her, sending her flying into a brick house. Not only that, he recklessly fired other energy blasts at the Cures rapidly. Twilight held up a shield while Dawn and Dusk deflected some with their own attacks. Others successfully managed to knock down a huge amount of trees, including the ones Fukiko and Kyoya are hiding behind, and leave a huge wall in one brick house.

"Hey! There are people here, y'know! You could kill them!" Cure Twilight yelled.

"Think I care?!" Zenjin sneered as he attempted to fire another energy blast at her, only to find himself suddenly getting knocked off his feet by a little pink tornado, which turned out to be a very choleric Lovebeam.

"That's what you get for being cruel to my sister, you brute!" Lovebeam yelled as she tried to land another attack on him, but he grabbed one of her long ears and threw her against a tree like she was trash.

"Starlight Kick!" Cure Starlight tried to kick him, but he grabbed her foot and sent her flying again, this time sending her against another tree.

"Twilight Serenade!" Cure Twilight shot a purple ray of light at him, but he dodged it and very brutally punched her multiple times. Moonbeam and Sunbeam tried to stop him from hurting her more, but he knocked them all away. Twilight found her whole face throbbing and her lower lip bleeding a little.

"Dawn Flame!" Cure Dawn tried to engulf him in flames but he punched her in the jaw and sent her flying against another brick house before she could do anything else.

"He's so strong…" Cure Dusk stammered as she tried to get back on her feet, only to grimace as her abdomen pulsated in a painful way, probably from the kick she got from Zenjin earlier.

"He has the Energia. He's on the same level as the Gods now…" Lovebeam told her hopelessly.

"I'm not giving up just yet! Twilight Sparkle!" Cure Twilight struggled to get on her feet and threw her Twilight Ring at him. But he simply dodged it. However, he caught sight of Kyoya, exposed after his tree fell down. His bloodthirsty eyes growing big with bloodlust, he flew over to the wheelchair bound boy, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him out of his chair, much to Starbeam's horror.

"Release him this instant, you knave!" Starbeam headbutted him, but with one hand he grabbed her and threw her to the concrete sidewalk like she was trash.

"You don't exist! You don't deserve to exist, you pitiful creature!" Zenjin screeched vehemently as he tried to strangle the life out of the kid, who did struggle and scratch Zenjin's arms with his sharp fingernails. But Zenjin barely noticed the cuts Kyoya's fingernails are making on his skin.

Cure Twilight's eyes grew large with horror. Kyoya's in danger! If she doesn't save him, he could die! She tried to go save him, but one of her legs gave out from too much fighting, plus there's a huge scab on her left knee that's making it hard for her to move. Everyone else has sustained a considerable amount of injuries too, which isn't surprising, considering he has omnipotent powers equal to those of the Gods.

But as it turned out, she didn't have to save him after all.

"NOOO!" A voice screamed with all it's might as someone successfully pried Zenjin's hands off of Kyoya's neck and pushed him a few feet back. At first, the girls thought it was one of the fairies, but they're all with them, and Starbeam is too far away from Kyoya to have been able to help him. They all looked up.

Zenjin was flabbergasted, the bloodthirsty look in his eyes suddenly being replaced with fear.

Kyoya's airway was finally free, but even he couldn't believe who came to his rescue.

Standing in between Kyoya and Zenjin, trembling like crazy, is a girl their age with long, chocolate brown hair, green clover earrings, and a green and turquoise dress.

"FUKIKO?!"

Yes, it's Fukiko, of all people! Her hazel eyes are now donning a glint blazing with courage, staring Zenjin down...and it's actually working, because as soon as he laid eyes on her, he took a few steps back, like he saw something that's scaring the living daylights out of him.

"LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE, YOU BULLY!" Fukiko screamed the highest voice she could muster. But they could all tell she's still scared out of her own wits. Her legs are shaking, looking like they're going to buckle at any moment. But she kept going. "What did he ever do to you that was so bad?! He never did anything to you!"

'_Fukiko...you're putting your life on the line for me…'_ Kyoya couldn't believe his eyes. The one person he hates with the fiery passion of a thousand suns and was convinced didn't feel any remorse for what she did to him actually put her life on the line to save him. She's a spindly looking, powerless little girl, yet she's staring down a kid older than her who has a jewel in his bloodstream and has powers equal to those of Gods. Before, Kyoya kept his heart encased in ice just so he could deal with what happened. Now, the ice melted away, becoming warm and soft.

However, she's not the only one who's scared.

Fukiko was the first to see it. "Uh...are you okay?"

Zenjin's bloody red eyes are now consumed with absolutely nothing but naked, unadulterated fear, like he's going through an extremely traumatic experience. His eyes got so huge they looked like they were going to pop right out of his head. He took a few more steps back. He didn't see a rock underneath one of his feet, so he slipped and fell on his rear end. He barely noticed.

"What?! Why are you so scared all of a sudden?!" Fukiko yelled.

"Why...why are you...wearing that?!" Zenjin stammered with an extremely fearful and frightened tone of voice that sounded like he was about to cry and scream at any moment.

Flummoxed, Fukiko looked down at her dress, then at Zenjin. "My dress? What's that got to do with anything?! You're a psycho, you know that?!"

Zenjin isn't looking at Fukiko. He's looking at her dress. To Fukiko, it's just a dress. But to Zenjin, it could very well be one of his biggest fears, like he's face-to-face with a horrible, terrifying monster he wanted nothing but to get away from. All of a sudden, he found himself being dragged down memory lane, and that was not a lane he wanted to be strolling on.

(flashback)

_A large, black silhouette mercilessly and violently dragged a younger, seven-year-old Zenjin across a room by his hair, it's large, chubby, marshmallow like hand clinging tightly onto a huge clump of his shimmery silver hair. Zenjin yelled, kicked, pleaded, and screamed, but the black silhouette dragging him through the messy house absolutely refused to relent. It had his silver hair in an iron grip, not intent on letting go anytime soon. The black silhouette is quite large, like an obese person. Not morbidly, but close enough. Not only that, Zenjin isn't even wearing boy's clothes. He's wearing a small dress with a yellow bodice with orange flowers embroidering it, an orange skirt, an orange Peter Pan collar, and sunny yellow buttons. But the situation was anything but sunny and pleasant._

"_Let me go! Lemme go!" Zenjin screamed as he tried to break out of the person's grasp by planting his bare feet on the floor and clawing at the person's chubby marshmallow hand, but the silhouette absolutely refused to relent. It didn't help that Zenjin's fingernails are so small and chewed up they couldn't possibly leave any marks on the silhouette's chubby, marshmallow arm._

"_Shut up, you brat!" The silhouette yelled in a ghastly, gravely, middle aged woman voice as it dragged him toward the front door._

"_I don't wanna wear this!" Zenjin protested._

"_That's your Halloween costume! Get over it and get out there! You're not coming in until I say so, you trash!" The silhouette yelled as it opened the door. Zenjin tried to get back in, but the woman had him in a strong, iron grip, not letting him get back in the house. "I said you're NOT coming back in until I say so! Now OUT!" With great strength, the silhouette flung Zenjin out the front door, sending him tumbling down the porch. She closed the door in front of him before he could dash back in._

_With tears streaming down his eyes, his silver hair a jumbled mess, and dressed in clothes he really shouldn't be wearing, Zenjin pounded on the front door of his wooden house. "Let me in! Let me in! Please!"_

_He banged on the door with all of his might, hoping she would let him in. But she didn't let him in. He kept pounding and wailing on the door for what appeared to be hours. No response. Absolutely none. The woman didn't come out. He's all alone. Not only that, he's outside, and it's extremely dark, with a few solitary streetlights flickering on the corners of the street, with a few kids in costumes walking around happily with bags in their hands overflowing with all kinds of candy. But Zenjin couldn't go out there, especially not in a dress! They'd laugh at him! He knows they will. Who wouldn't laugh at a boy wearing a girly dress? But then again, that's probably what the woman wanted. It doesn't help that the dress is sleeveless, he's barefoot, and the bitterly cold weather stung his bare skin all over. Seeing that his efforts are futile, he fell to his knees and cried helplessly, burying his freezing face against the wooden door, leaving some splinters on his red cheeks.._

"_Let me in…"_

(end flashback)

Without warning, the naked fear in his eyes morphed back into bloodlust. "Take it off!"

"Huh?!"

"TAKE THAT TRASH OFF!" Zenjin grabbed Fukiko by the neck and flung her against the tree before anyone could react. Fukiko coughed and tried to get away, but he punched her in the face. Despite this, she tried to run, but he grabbed one of her feet and pried off one of her shoes, which he then used to maliciously beat the living daylights out of the poor girl, who struggled and kicked and screamed for her life. He viciously beat her on the head multiple times with her shoe, not bothering to let up. After that, he grabbed onto the front of her dress and yanked on it so hard he ripped a huge chunk of it off.

"HELP MEEEEE!" Fukiko screamed in an even higher voice this time. It didn't help that this time her Soul Portal suddenly got exposed, and Zenjin wasted NO time putting his head and arm in there to yank out her soul.

"Let her go, you!" Cures Twilight and Dawn, Moonbeam, and Lovebeam grabbed him and tried to pull him out, but he wasn't budging. Twilight wanted to cover her ears because Fukiko is screaming for her life, and it's hurting her ears. But she knew this wasn't the time for her autism taking control of her right now. Finally, they managed to yank him out, but to their horror, he was successful in yanking out her soul and corrupting it. With a ferocious scream, he threw her corrupted soul into the air, allowing it to turn into a large black chicken that began clucking and running all over the place, stepping on houses and knocking down trees. Cures Starlight and Dusk wasted no time flying over to subdue it. Cures Twilight and Dawn tried to subdue Zenjin as he wanted to have a go at the now unconscious Fukiko, but he blasted them away with a huge explosion of energy, sending them flying onto the giant chicken.

"_I'm sorry, Kyoya! I really am!"_ The chicken clucked somberly as it stepped on some children's toys in front of a house, right as Cure Dawn, recovering from that energy explosion quickly, subjected it to a particularly brutal Dawn Slam attack. _"I'm sorry I hurt you! I know you don't think I'm truly sorry, but I am! You're allowed to hate me! I deserve it! I want to be a better friend to you this time! If I could turn back time and stop myself from being stupid, I would!"_

Kyoya struggled to get back in his wheelchair, grabbing his backpack as he got back in with Starbeam's help. He didn't think the Fukiko who came to rescue him from Zenjin was the same person. As far as he knew, Fukiko was his ex-best friend who betrayed him when he needed her, Daizo, and everyone else the most, and ignored him ever since. But...somewhere, in the deep, confines of his heart, something was convinced that Fukiko IS serious about how sorry she is and wanting to make up with him.

Moonbeam, Lovebeam, Sunbeam, Cure Starlight, and Cure Dusk all tried to subdue Zenjin with all they could, from energy beams to flurries of rapid punches and kicks, but he blasted them away with another energy blast. But before he could do anything more, Zenjin felt an iron grip on his hand. He turned around to find Decebal-with his white gloved hand clinging to his arm-and Beileag, both donning disappointed looks on their faces. "Let me go!"

"Zenny! You should know better than to leave the fortress while you're still sick. You'll make yourself sicker than you already are," Decebal told him in an austere tone of voice.

"He's right, y'know. You want to get better and go back to blowing stuff up, don't you?" Beileag asked.

Kyoya saw them appear and stop Zenjin from doing any more damage to not just them, but the town. A bunch of trees have been knocked down already, and a few houses have big holes in them. People are beginning to run away and evacuate as the giant, pitch black chicken began stepping on everything it could see. Then he looked at the Nylons strap dangling from one of his backpack straps. Then at the chicken, the Pretty Cures and fairies struggling to fight it, and then back at his Nylon strap. An idea popped into his head. If it could just work...he yanked on his Nylon strap, and a vociferous, deafening, alarm-like sound resounded all throughout the area, causing everyone, including the giant black chicken, to fall to their knees and cover their ears, perturbed and paralyzed by the absolutely deafening sound.

"What is that?!" Beileag yelled as she tried miserably to plug her ears shut with her hands but to no avail.

"I don't know!" Decebal yelled as loud as he could so Beileag could hear him.

'_It worked! Now's my chance!'_ Kyoya thought as he crawled over to the Pretty Cure and the other three fairies. He tapped on Cure Twilight's hand to get her attention, which worked, as she looked up to see him in front of her.

"Use the Dazzling Gleam now while you have the chance!" Kyoya yelled over the noise.

Cure Twilight nodded and passed along the message to the fairies first, then the other Pretty Cures.

"_Kyoya doesn't think I feel bad about what I've done! But I do!"_ The chicken clucked, frozen by the deafening sound of Kyoya's I-Safe alarm. Despite the noise, the girls and fairies stood up and formed a circle, ready to perform their final purification attack.

"Lend us your power, holy light! Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!" All eight of them glowed in one single, radiant white light, which purified the chicken and turned it into Fukiko's soul orb. It's here that the deafening I-Safe alarm sound finally ceased. All of their ears are ringing, but Cure Dawn picked up the orb.

"We did it!" She exclaimed happily.

"Umm...do you mind if I put it inside her?" Kyoya asked. Without saying anything, Cure Dawn handed Fukiko's soul orb to him, which he took as a yes. He crawled back into his chair with Fukiko's soul orb in hand, wheeled over to Fukiko's Soul Portal, and dropped the glass ball into it. As soon as Fukiko's Soul Portal disappeared, the color returned to her face, and her hazel eyes peeled open. Then she shot up and buttoned her jean jacket to cover up the ripped part of her chest. She then turned to Kyoya with a worried and concerned look.

"Kyoya-kun! Are you okay?! You're not hurt, are you?! Did that silver haired guy hurt you like he did me?!" Fukiko yelped.

"I'm fine, Fukiko. Really, I am. He did try to choke me but you stopped him," Kyoya told her. Fukiko didn't seem to notice the blood on her head. He felt compelled to point it out.

"I...I'm so glad you're okay…" Fukiko blubbered, her entire being awash with a tsunami of relief.

"But you took a pretty nasty beating. You're bleeding from your head," Kyoya told her as he pointed to the top of her head. There's a bloody spot in her hair, and Fukiko felt around it. It's true. Parts of her hair are stained with blood. "I'll call your parents later and tell them to take you to a doctor."

"LEMME AT HER! LEMME AT HER!" Zenjin screamed as he tried to lunge after Fukiko again and possibly do even worse things to her than just beat the living daylights out of her with one of her shoes. Thankfully for the kids and fairies, Beileag held him back.

"No! You're coming back to the fortress with us to get better!" Beileag told him sternly, putting her high heeled foot down.

"NO! I WANNA BLOW HER TRASHY DRESS UP! I _live_ for destroying the very things that make my blood boil!" Zenjin yelled vehemently like a rabid animal that's DYING to rip its prey apart all the way down to the bone.

"Go on ahead of me. I'll catch up with you," Decebal told her. Despite Zenjin's vehement protests, Beileag took him back and they both disappeared into thin air. The Pretty Cure, fairies, and the kids stared daggers at him, Fukiko in particular, who stood back up. Decebal pointed his rapier at her neck, but unlike before, she didn't move a millimeter.

"I saw your little display earlier. Tell me, little girl. Why did you put your life on the line for this boy? It's clearly obvious that he's nothing but a crippled boy. A broken, pitiful creature. You're merely a plain Jane with no powers or special abilities," Decebal asked condescendingly.

"He's NOT broken or a pitiful creature! I used to think he was, but not anymore! I already failed him once when he needed me the most! I know you have powers and I don't, but do you think I care?! I wasn't just going to sit there and let your crazy psycho friend do God knows what to him! It's called being a friend!" Fukiko yelled.

Kyoya smiled gratefully. That did it for him. Fukiko does care about him after all. If she didn't, she wouldn't have put her life in jeopardy for him, exacerbated by the fact that she has absolutely no superpowers at all and would have been creamed no matter what she did. Decebal smiled and put his rapier back. "I respect your devotion, little girl. But it won't do you or your pitiful friends any good. Only the strong survive, and the weak die. Don't go through life believing you can change anything. You're a weak little girl who is better off in a life of servitude. The weak should know their place."

"Oh, screw you, broccoli head!" Cure Dusk snapped angrily.

With that, Decebal disappeared into thin air. Right afterward, Fukiko fell to her knees and burst into a paroxysm of tears. The kids and fairies could tell why: she's been scared out of her wits this whole time, and even got brutally attacked a couple times. Who wouldn't be after all of that?

"Uuuugh! That guy should be arrested for attempted sexual assault!" Cure Dusk shouted, angry that Zenjin and his adoptive parents got away yet again.

"Fuudo…" Kyoya looked at her with soft, gentle eyes, unlike the scornful looks he always gave her for the past year and a half. He hasn't used that nickname in a long time. He and all of his friends used to call her that ever since they first met."Thanks for trying to save me. Sorry you got hurt because of it."

Fukiko calmed down a little. "It's okay. I'm just glad I got to save you...and that Riko-chan and the others came when they did."

The girls did double takes. Did she say _'Riko-chan'_?

"Bwahahaha! Who is this Riko you speak of? I'm Cure Twilight, a super hero of epic proportions!" Cure Twilight bellowed.

"You can't fool me. I know it's you, Chino-san, and Asagi-san, Riko-chan. I can recognize your faces and hair styles a mile away," Fukiko deadpanned.

"Ugh…" Riko murmured. She's good. They conceded defeat. "The Sailor Moon girls didn't hide their faces and hairstyles and nobody recognized them!"

"Real life is different from anime, Riko," Hotaru said.

"I promise I won't tell anyone! Really!" Fukiko stammered, feeling guilty about discerning their identities so quickly. Changing back to their civilian forms, Hotaru helped her up.

"Let's get you back home so your parents can take you to a doctor," Hotaru told her as she escorted her away. Feeling beat, the kids and fairies decided to head home as well. What an exhausting yet exciting adventure this was.


	15. A Lesson In The Aquarium!

Chapter 15: Disabled Doesn't Mean Stupid! A Lesson In The Aquarium!

"_Daizo...there's no easy way to say this, but...your sister has brain damage. Something happened during delivery, and she won't grow up or learn things in the same way as the other kids. But that doesn't mean she isn't capable of doing things like us. She just needs a little bit more support. I hope you understand."_

Those are the words that came out of his parents' mouth when he asked them why his new baby sister-now about 6 months old-isn't behaving the way other babies would. Then again, Funaki Daizo wasn't too keen on having a baby sister at all. He wanted everything to himself. He wanted to do whatever the heck he wanted. He didn't want to have to take care of any babies or share his stuff with them. He figured his new sister will probably slobber all over his stuff, break everything, hog all the attention, make everything hers, or God knows what else. But something about his new baby sister was different than other babies he's seen. She never splashed or kicked whenever his mother gave her a bath, nor did she seem to drink out of the bottle properly. Not only that, she cried constantly. Every single day. No baby could cry as much as she did. That in itself perturbed Daizo to no end.

However, Daizo's mother told him that his baby sister has brain damage. As soon as he heard the words brain damage, only one thing came to his mind: _'My baby sister's a crippled retard. Great. Just great. First my best friend and now this! Can it get any worse?!'_ He thought bitterly. Ever since he heard the news, he made it a point to either completely disassociate himself from his baby sister in any way, or completely deny her existence everywhere he went, even though his parents always scolded him about it. Not only that, it disgusted him to even look at her. To Daizo, his baby sister isn't a person like he is. In fact, he doesn't even acknowledge her as his sister. To Daizo, she's just a brain damaged, broken husk of what she could have been. His parents would rip him a new one if he was caught saying that, as he learned the hard way, but he didn't care.

Daizo envisioned a terrible future with his baby sister. She's probably grow up physically but still be a baby in her brain. She'll probably spend her whole entire life wearing diapers, talking like a baby, crying every single day for God knows what, throwing tantrums over stupid things, drooling all over the place, using a wheelchair, only eating soft, mushy-gushy baby food, etc. Daizo didn't even want to think about the damage she could do to his reputation if people, especially his friends at school, found out about her, especially if they get older. He's bitterly convinced that his baby sister will do nothing but humiliate him and extirpate his entire school and social life, driving his friends away. He doesn't think there's any way his friends would want to hang out with someone whose baby sister is a mentally retarded cripple.

It's bad enough his best friend got turned into one, as he thought.

He had to wonder if God was angry at him for some reason. He had to have done something to make him angry enough to give him this tepid little brain dead baby sister who'll probably ruin his life. What did he do that was so bad? Daizo wished he knew the answer, but how should he know? Daizo plopped into his room and buried his face in his pillows, wishing that his brain damaged baby sister had never been born. _'She's just gonna ruin everything! Why can't I have a normal sibling, or no siblings at all?! Why can't things go back to the way they were before?! My life is ruined and it's all her fault!'_ Daizo wailed in his brain but didn't dare do it out loud lest he wake her up, and it was hard enough just to get her to go to sleep.

* * *

At school, Daizo is relatively popular and has lots of friends. He hangs out with them whenever he has the chance. Sometimes he even hangs out with Yuji and his friends, but not to do any bullying. Yuji gets in enough trouble with that. But they were still cool with each other. However, today, something has changed, and Daizo found himself not liking it one bit. When he walked on the blacktop, he saw Fukiko, one of his most loyal friends, talking happily with Riko, Anzu, Kyoya, and Marina like they're the best of friends. He found himself stomping over to them.

"Hey! Fukiko!" Daizo edicted in a booming voice, causing everyone to turn around in surprise.

"What?" Fukiko asked, confused. But she could see his face is contorted with anger, and she knew that when Daizo's angry, it's best to steer clear of him at all costs.

"You're MY friend, not theirs! Come with me!" Daizo grabbed her wrist and tried to force her away from the gang against her will, but Fukiko managed to successfully pry her hand out of his. "Why are you hanging out with the loser league?! They ain't worth it!"

"Yes they are. I'm hanging out with them from now on, and you can't stop me," Fukiko told him boldly with a courageous glint in her eyes, something Daizo had never seen before.

Shocked by her audacity, Daizo tried to grab her again. "Oh, yes I can! Nobody's gonna like you anymore if you keep hanging out with Four Eyed Cripple here!"

Fukiko smacked his hand away quite fiercely. "Do NOT call him a cripple!"

"I'll call him whatever I darn please, and that's what he is! You know it, and I know it!"

Kyoya's had his heart broken before, so he's used to it by now. But it didn't stop Daizo's poisonous, malicious words from shooting an arrow in his heart. However, the impact was softened by Fukiko calling him out on it, so that melted the ice from his heart somewhat. Before they could argue further, the bell rang, prompting the kids to scramble toward homeroom. Riko sat at her desk reading more of her Pokemon manga until she saw a shadow loom over her.

"Umm...you're Tasogare-san, right?"

She looked up to find a girl about her age looking down at her, but it isn't Yoshie or her clique. Rather, it's the girl named Chinami. Her pale brown hair streamed a little past her chin while most of it went down to the back of her neck. Her eyes are a darker, more chocolatey shade, and under her left eye is a dark brown birthmark that's shaped like a little diamond. She's wearing a dark cotton candy pink short sleeved shirt with the words _'Girls Can Change The World'_ written on them in black and lots of glitter, with a yellow smiley face on it, a darker pink tiered, ruffled skirt that goes slightly above her knees with little bows on both sides, black socks, and twinkle toe shoes that are both dark pink and light pink at the same time, with fake jewels glued on them and a big, tye-dye flower on both sides. She's also wearing a pink, purple, and white bandana around her neck, and little apricot colored rose earrings. She's holding a worksheet in her hands. As much as Riko liked pink, she couldn't help but be a little cowed by all the pink she's wearing, and the fact that she's approaching her at all. Averting eye contact, she replied to her question shyly. "Uhh...yeah?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I hear you're good at English, so I was wondering if you could help me with this," Chinami told her in a nice, pretty, amiable-sounding voice, showing her a worksheet and pointing to a part she hasn't filled in yet. "I'm not understanding this part right here."

Riko looked at the instructions on the worksheet and ruminated. But not before Yuji suddenly shouted, "She can't help you! She's the class retard!"

"Oh, shut up, Kosaka! You shouldn't call people that word!" Chinami snapped. Riko paid no heed, and instead managed to find the solution to Chinami's problem.

"You're reading it as See-tull. It's pronounced See-Ah-Tull. There's emphasis on the letter A, and it's a short A," Riko explained.

"Ohhhh! I get it! Thanks so much, Tasogare-san!" Chinami exclaimed cheerfully, finally understanding where she went wrong.

In another corner of the classroom, Daizo sat at his desk, joined by a girl with very short, poofy, curly blonde hair that's a darker shade than Anzu's radiant blonde hair and ocean blue eyes like Sunbeam's, along with a boy slightly taller than her with raven black hair like Riko's, only messier, and darker blue eyes. Daizo rolled his eyes. "Tasogare can't be smart. All she does is cry in class, make weird noises, talk about cartoons, and read books for kindergarteners."

"You really shouldn't judge someone just because they're different. We're all different here," The black haired boy told him.

"Yeah, but she's different in a weird way. What kid her age reads kindergarten books? And about a kid's show nobody knows or cares about anymore? And I'm even more surprised that she's able to be friends with Scarface and the blonde goth," The blonde haired girl asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Sae," Daizo said to the blonde haired girl, Sae.

"You should be happy they're not bad people," The black haired boy told them.

"Who asked you, Hiroto?" Daizo asked the black haired boy, Hiroto, who became a little miffed.

After homeroom, the kids went to art class, where they learned more about the history of 11th century illustrations for various novels, like The Tale of Genji. Many of the children didn't like the lessons nor Mrs. Sasamoto rambling on and on about stuff they couldn't care less about, but Riko was rapt. Her ears drank in every single word like it was water. Daizo glanced at her and rolled his eyes, wondering just what she finds so interesting about this boring talk. It's bad enough they share a table, along with Sae, Chinami, another plump girl, and two other boys.

Later on, they went to gym class, which Daizo and the boys found to be much better than art class. They found this class to be particularly fun as today they're on the blacktop playing kick ball and keeping score. Riko and the other girls found that they like Mr. Hanazawa. He treats the girls the same as the boys and has a long, fluffy, chocolate brown mustache that made him look like a Jewish rabbi, but he's also friendly and caring, too. Again, Riko found herself on Daizo's team, along with Sae, Hiroto, Fukiko, and Chinami. The game went fine for a while, until Riko suddenly got hit with a ball and fell on the concrete, which made Daizo's face turn beet red. He stomped over to her, giving the impression he was going to help her up, but instead, he went on a tirade. "Stupid, brain dead retard! You ruined everything! Idiot! Crybaby! Slowpoke!"

Riko got herself up and ignored his insults, but she noticed she has a big scab on her other knee. She already has another scab on her knee that's still healing from the fight she had with Zenjin yesterday. Anzu ran over to her and stared daggers at Daizo. "Hey! Quit yelling at her, and do NOT call her a retard!"

"Stay outta this, you blonde goth! She deserves it for making us lose!"

"It's just a game! Get over it!"

Mr. Hanazawa got in between them. "Calm down, you two. No fighting. Daizo-kun, Anzu-chan's right in that it's just a game. This is only for fun. Just because it doesn't go the way you want it to doesn't make it right to be angry and take it out on someone," He then turned to Anzu. "Feel free to take her to the nurse."

Anzu took Riko by the hand and escorted her to the nurse. Daizo went back to the game, but he's still fuming. He remained choleric all the way to the end of class, namely because the other team won, two to ten. At lunch time, Riko sat with Kyoya, Anzu, and Marina just like usual, with Fukiko, Chinami, Sae, Hiroto, and a few other girls sitting in the table next to theirs.

"Hey, girls. My mom says we're going to go to the aquarium after school tomorrow, and they're wondering if you'd all like to come," Kyoya said.

"An aquarium?" Marina asked.

"Oh! I'd love to go!" Anzu exclaimed cheerfully.

"I'd love to, but I'll have to ask my mom," Riko said.

"Me too," Marina piped in.

"Sorry about Funaki-san wailing on you like that after you got hurt," Anzu told Riko. "I just don't get what his deal is."

"It's okay," Riko replied after she consumed a scoop of her favorite chocolate pudding.

"What'd he do?" Kyoya asked.

"Someone kicked Riko with the ball and she fell, and out of nowhere he started yelling at her and calling her names," Anzu explained.

Kyoya's expression went grim. "I see. He's an idiot. I'm gonna rip him a new one when I get the chance."

"I don't want you to get in trouble," Riko said.

"I don't care," Kyoya replied grimly.

"Do you eat the same thing every day?" Marina asked out of the blue, pointing to Riko's purple lunch box, completely changing the subject.

"Yeah," Riko replied casually like it was the most normal thing in the world. "A bottle of water, fruit gummies, a peanut butter sandwich, chocolate pudding with my favorite fishy spoon, and chocolate chip cookies."

"Don't you get tired of it?"

"Nope."

Right after that, she finished her pudding, consumed her chocolate chip cookies, and proceeded to read the rest of one of her Moomin books. Kyoya couldn't help but glance at it. "You read those a lot, don't you?"

"Uh...yeah. I have the whole series," Riko replied, flummoxed by his sudden interest, if it was genuine interest at all. "It's nothing you'd be interested in," Riko added. _'There's no way he'd be interested in Moomins! Boys wouldn't like this stuff. They're more into stuff that's full of action and violence,'_ She thought. The idea of Kyoya, nice as he is, liking Moomins is as likely as her being normal. In fact, she doesn't think any of her friends would even think of being interested in Moomins.

"Actually...would it be okay if you let me borrow one of those to read for the weekend?" Kyoya asked.

"Why?"

"I wouldn't mind reading one of those."

"It's not something you'd like."

"So?"

"It's just about a bunch of humans and animals having fun, happy adventures. It's not anything you'd like."

"I'd like to read it for myself. Maybe I'll like it."

"You won't like it. I know you won't," Riko suddenly clutched her book and held it close like she suspected Kyoya was going to steal it. She knew he wouldn't, but she's adamantly convinced that Kyoya wouldn't even think of liking Moomins. Why would he, and why is he suddenly interested in borrowing her books?

"You don't have to get all defensive. It's not like he's gonna rip it up or anything," Marina said, a little weirded out by Riko's reaction to Kyoya's wish to borrow one of her Moomin books to read. "Who knows? Maybe he will like it. Let him try it out and see for himself."

"I'll...lend you one tomorrow. But don't ruin it! It's happened before!" Riko told him pertly.

"Okay okay."

"I know you're not going to like it."

The kids at the table next to them couldn't help but overhear. "Why's she so freaked out about lending someone a book? That's so weird," Sae piped in.

"No, it's not. I remember one time I let my cousin borrow one of my _Bishounen Kira*Kira_ magazines only to find it all cut up and ruined. She spilled coke all over Masaya-kun's face!" Chinami replied after eating some saltine crackers.

"That must have sucked," Fukiko piped in.

"If my cousin did that to one of my solar system models, I'd rip her a new one," A bespectacled girl with black hair tied in a short braid piped in.

"You make solar system models, Yuuka-chan?" Fukiko asked.

"Yep. It's actually pretty easy if you have the right materials laying around," The braided, bespectacled girl, Yuuka, deadpanned, her glasses gleaming.

The kids palavered on about whatever they could talk about, looking happier than a galaxy of stars. But Daizo glanced at them from his table, his gut contorting with disgust at seeing them so happy, so joyful, and so radiant. His face especially went red upon seeing Fukiko at another table instead of the one he and his friends share.

"Hey, Dai! How come Fukiko's not sittin' with us?" The kid next to him asked.

"Beats me," Daizo deadpanned.

It was at recess when things got rather sour. Daizo found himself leaning against the metal face until someone wheeled up to him. It's someone he used to be friends with, but now he doesn't want to be caught dead even a millimeter near him. "Hey! Daizo! Why'd you pick on Riko in gym class today?! Huh?!"

"Don't talk to me, Four Eyed Cripple!" Daizo snapped back and tried to stomp away. But this rejection only made his red haired, bespectacled, ex-friend even angrier. Kyoya managed to wheel in front of him and freeze him in place with a scornful look.

"Too late! I'm already talking to you, and since I am, I'm not gonna sit here and let you pick on my best friend! She didn't do anything to you, so what gives you a right to pick on her?!" Kyoya yelled vehemently.

_Best friend_. He just called Riko his best friend. A poisonous arrow shot through his heart the minute he heard those venomous words. Daizo used to be his best friend before the former dropped him like a hot potato because he doesn't like the fact that he's in a wheelchair. Now Riko's his best friend? Riko, the girl Daizo is convinced is nothing but an anime-obsessed, cowardly, crybaby retard, is his best friend? What does he see in her that he'd want to be her best friend? Daizo's heart sought to get away from this four eyed cripple.

"Get outta my face!" Without realizing it, he almost threw a punch at Kyoya's glasses covered face, but the latter caught his fist with his hand just in time.

"Hey! Stop it, you two!" With gusto, Fukiko ran in between the quarreling boys, which made Daizo turn beet red. Fukiko turned to him with a courageous glint in her eyes and said, "You should know better than to punch someone at school! You could get suspended, you jerk!"

"Why are you siding with the cripple?!"

"DO NOT call him a cripple!"

"You know as well as I do that he's a cripple, and we're not friends with any cripples!"

"Shut up!"

All of a sudden, one of the teachers, Mrs. Oginome, came onto the scene with a stern look. "What's going on here?"

Riko was quick to answer. "Funaki-san's picking a fight with Kyo-chan and won't leave him alone!"

"Hey! Don't snitch on me, you retard!" Daizo yelled angrily, his eyes blazing.

"You're the one who tried to punch him!" Riko snapped back.

"Come with me, Daizo. I'm calling your parents," Mrs. Oginome took Daizo by the arm and dragged him away. But Daizo shot Riko a look that clearly said, _'I'm gonna get you for this, you snitch!'_ but nobody paid him any heed.

"What's his problem?" Anzu asked with her harmonica in hand ready to play in order to calm the atmosphere.

"He's a jerk, that's what. A closed-minded jerk who doesn't want anything to do with me or anyone who's different from him. He's convinced anyone who's disabled or different is automatically so stupid they can't even function," Kyoya muttered bitterly.

"He acts like he owns you. You shouldn't let him treat you like that," Riko told Fukiko gently, remembering the brief incident earlier before school started.

"Yeah. I'm done with him," Fukiko said in agreement.

"Actually, I think I might know what his problem is," Chinami piped in. "I heard he has a new baby sister. She's really cute. But from what I heard she has brain damage."

"Where'd you hear that?" Marina asked.

"I overheard him arguing with his parents last week in front of school," Chinami explained. "He can be really loud."

"Yeah," Riko agreed.

* * *

The day ended and in came a new one. Riko asked Saki if she could go to the aquarium with Kyoya's family, and much to her surprise, Saki said yes! Riko could barely contain her excitement. She gets to hang out with Kyoya and his family! But she couldn't let herself get too excited, because she still has homework and her project to do. Before coming to school, she brought Moonbeam and her Heart Lighter with her just in case anything happened in the aquarium that needed Pretty Cure. At lunch, she reluctantly handed Kyoya her copy of Comet In Moominland. She almost tried to take it back until Kyoya put it in his bag. "I promise I won't ruin it. I'm not that stupid," Kyoya told her reassuringly, but as nice as he is, she couldn't help but have her doubts.

After school, Riko met up with Kyoya in front of his father's van and got in first. She was surprised to find that Kyoya's van not only has enough room for his wheelchair, but has an actual wheelchair lift. As soon as the van drove away from the school, Riko found herself chatting with Kyoya throughout the entire ride, setting her heart aglow with happiness. Soon, they arrived at the aquarium, where they were met with nearly every single underwater creature known to man. Fish, fish, fish! And guess what? More fish! Sharks, seals, starfish, seahorses, whales, stingrays, jellyfish, octopus, piranhas, penguins, etc. The whole place was an entire museum containing a myriad of underwater creatures. Riko and Kyoya were rapt.

"Jellyfish are so beautiful! Those stringy things they have look like the veil of a wedding dress!" Someone dressed in odd, flashy hippie clothes shouted next to Riko, which made her cover her ears. Riko looked up at the person whose long hair is in pigtails, wearing star shaped glasses, a sleeveless top, bandanas, long jeans, and high heels. She then turned back to the jellyfish. She had to admit, the flashy looking lady is right in that their transparent, gelatinous, trailing tentacles are flowing gracefully, looking like wedding veils

"Yeah. They really are," Riko mused under her breath. She then looked up at the hippie lady. "Hey! Have you seen moon jellyfish? They glow in the dark depending on the color of the light people put on! They kinda look like really glowy, fluffy fairies."

"Really?" The flashy woman asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity despite it being so dark. "Where are they?"

"Just back there," Riko pointed to the area behind the hippie lady.

"Thanks!" The woman said before darting off to fangirl over the cute little moon jellyfish.

Later on, Riko, Kyoya, and his parents went to see the penguins. Riko liked how slippery they look, their moderately long beaks, their big, white, egg-shaped bellies, and the graceful way they swam through the water so seamlessly without difficulty. But she does wonder how they're able to keep their eyes open while underwater. Riko could never keep her eyes open underwater, because the water would make her eyes feel like they're drowning, and who knows what kind of illness-inducing substances could get in.

"Hiya, Riko!" Upon hearing her name, Riko turned around to find Marina and Anzu standing right behind her with jovial looks on their faces. Marina is wearing a long sleeved, bright, sunny yellow sweater, a pair of blue jeans, and brown boots while Anzu is wearing a black hoodie over a red shirt with a white circle that has a yellow lightning bolt on it, black bondage pants with orange stitching, and purple tennis shoes. Sunbeam and Starbeam are with them.

"Mari-chan! An-chan!" Riko exclaimed happily as she hugged them both. "Glad you could make it!"

"I hitched a ride with Mari here because my dad had to work," Anzu explained. "I really miss going to aquariums. They're like a whole new world for us humans."

"I know, right?" Kyoya piped in cheerfully. "Have you seen the sharks yet? They're so cool!"

"I love sharks! They show no mercy attacking their prey! And no, I wasn't the least bit freaked out by Jaws," Marina piped in enthusiastically, which made everyone laugh merrily.

"Me either," Anzu piped in.

"I like the angelfish best. They look so graceful and elegant when swimming," Lovebeam threw in dreamily.

"Did you know that sharks fear dolphins?" Starbeam asked.

"Oh! I see some pretty fish over there!" Riko said before darting off. Anzu, Marina, and Kyoya followed her, along with Kayoko and Jiroemon, who smiled upon seeing the kids having a good time. The kids found themselves rapt by the little seahorses and the graceful way they swam up and down.

"Seahorses are so cute," Moonbeam said, awed by the little seahorses.

"You can say that again," A voice behind them said. The kids turned around to find Hotaru behind them, wearing a short sleeved white shirt with lots of midnight blue stars on it in many sizes, along with a medium length maroonish purple skirt, tall black socks, and light brown boots.

"Hi, Hotaru-chan!" Riko exclaimed cheerfully.

"Jeez, everyone's here today," Kyoya said.

"My parents thought it'd be a great day to come. I'll introduce you," Hotaru told them politely as she escorted them to her male parents. "These are my two fathers, Sojiro and Kyouichi. Dad and Kyouichi, these are my friends, Tasogare Riko-san, Mitomo Kyoya-san, Chino Anzu-san, and Asagi Marina-san. Riko is Hikage's sister."

"It's so nice to meet you all. Hotaru's told us a lot about you," Kyouichi told them cheerfully and shook Anzu's hand. Marina just stood there, dumbfounded while Riko shyly hid behind Kyoya, not because she's cowed by the fact that Hotaru's parents are both male. She's known that for a long time. But she's still not very good at socializing with new people. Soon, Kayoko and Jiroemon introduced themselves to Sojiro and Kyouichi. Later on, they all decided to go to the gift shop. Not all of them, though.

"Hey, Dad. Do you mind if I go to the bathroom real quick?" Kyoya asked.

"Sure. I don't mind. But don't be gone too long, and meet us back here when you're done," Jiroemon told him.

"I need to go, too," Riko chimed in as she followed Kyoya, who didn't mind her company. In fact, he preferred her company out of everyone else in his school, including Anzu. He had to wonder why he had never befriended Anzu before. However, before they could get to the bathroom, the vociferous sound of yelling caught their ears. It's so loud Riko had to cover her ears.

"DAIZO! What the freak are you doing?!"

Riko and Kyoya turned to look at each other. They knew that voice. When they came within the vicinity of both the boys' and girls' bathrooms, they found Fukiko and Daizo next to a baby stroller. The baby inside is crying wildly, but the angry ex-friends paid her no heed. Fukiko took what appears to be a small pillow out of Daizo's hands and threw it on the floor, like it was trash. She froze the flabbergasted boy in place with her fearsome, angry hazel eyes, like she really wanted to rip him a new one. And that's exactly what she did.

"What the freak is wrong with you?! I knew you were a jerk before, but I can't believe you'd actually try and suffocate your own baby sister! You could go to jail for that!" Fukiko yelled in her loudest voice. Kyoya found himself in stunned silence. He's never heard Fukiko raise her voice before, so this is quite a rarity to see.

"That crippled retard is no sister of mine!" Daizo snapped back.

"STOP using those bad words so much!" Fukiko yelled, appalled by his persistent use of ableist slurs. "You're heartless, you know that?! Kyoya-kun's way better than you! He's actually nice and knows what's important! He's done way more for us than you could ever acknowledge, but do you care about that?! Nooooo! All you care about is the fact that he's in a wheelchair now! He's more than just a person in a wheelchair, y'know, and your baby sister is no different!"

"You listen to me-"

"NO! YOU listen for once, because I'm _done_ putting up with your garbage! So what if your baby sister has brain damage?! It doesn't mean she's going to stay a baby forever, and it definitely doesn't mean she's not capable of doing the stuff we normal people can do!"

"Yes it does! I've seen those kinds of people on TV! All they do is drool and cry and poop themselves and scream all the time! They can't do anything at all!"

"Only the really really severe ones! This is what I hate about you! You're convinced that anyone who has even a little bit of a disability is an abomination that doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you! Get over it, Daizo! That attitude isn't going to make you or anyone else happy, and it definitely isn't going to magically fix Kyoya-kun or your baby sister! And suffocating her is definitely not going to make things better!"

"You don't know anything, you traitor! Once a cripple, always a cripple! Everyone at school knows that!"

"Well, they're wrong! God, you're so unreasonable! I can't believe I chose you over Kyoya-kun! AND STOP CALLING HIM THAT!"

"You're the one that said you wanted to be normal! You even agreed with me!"

"Not anymore! I'm done making stupid assumptions about people, and I'm done being your slave! You need to drop the attitude and get over it! Your baby sister's mentally challenged, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the world for her and you! Besides, Kyoya-kun's in a wheelchair but he's still the same person you used to be best buds with! Real friends don't care about that stuff and still accept him no matter what, not decide to throw him away like trash because you don't like the fact that he was in an accident and make a big deal out of it!"

"Shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Daizo screamed and pushed Fukiko to the ground. The baby continued to cry incessantly. Riko ran to the scene as well, but she kept her hands over her ears the entire time.

"Fuudo!" Kyoya yelled as he wheeled over to Fukiko and helped her up. He then shot daggers at the already choleric and beet red Daizo. "How can you be so cruel?!"

"This is your fault!" Daizo screeched. "You just HAAAD to turn into a cripple! You used to be cool before you turned into a retard!"

"You make it sound like I wanted this! I was in a car accident! That's all! You think I want to be in a wheelchair?!"

"You're a cripple and you'll stay a cripple! Just like you and your retard friend!"

"DO NOT call Riko a retard!" Kyoya yelled, his emerald eyes blazing with anger. He couldn't believe he used to be his best friend.

"I'll call her whatever I please, and that's what you, her, and this brain dead baby are!"

"No we're not!" Riko yelled.

"No one asked for your opinion, idiot!"

All of a sudden, Daizo felt a strong sting to his face. He managed to maintain his footing, but even then he found himself frozen with shock. He was able to turn around and see who gave him a well deserved slap to the face: Fukiko. "If anyone's an idiot around here, it's you! You can't go around defining people by their abnormalities and decide they're too dumb to live just because you don't like them being around! And you don't have a right to tell them what they are, what they aren't, and what their place is in society! Kyoya-kun and Riko-chan are waaaay better people than you'll ever be! They're actually nice and kind and helpful and caring, unlike you! Real friends don't treat other people like garbage! Real friends help each other out in times of need! Why do you have to be so brick brained?! You need to grow up, Daizo!"

With that, Fukiko stomped away. On a strange impulse Kyoya couldn't quite put his finger on, he followed her. Riko followed suit, leaving Daizo alone with his still crying baby sister, his face still stinging from Fukiko's surprisingly hard slap to the face. Shortly after, his parents arrived. "What's all the commotion?" His father asked.

'_They're wrong! They're all wrong! Wrong wrong wrong! They're all a bunch of traitors, cripples, and brain dead retards! She's born a cripple and she'll die a cripple!'_ Daizo thought bitterly, the volcano within him about to explode and send lava flying all over. He balled his fists. What did they know? Nothing, that's what. He suddenly grabbed a little baby caterpillar toy and began smacking his baby sister with it. _BAM! BAM! BAM!_ With every hit, the baby cried even harder, and his parents made audible gasps.

"Daizo! Stop right now!" His mother exclaimed as she pushed her choleric son back and scooped the crying baby in her arms, giving her volatile son the same disappointed, appalled, and angry look Fukiko's been giving him. "Why would you do that to your baby sister?! You should know better than to hit someone in this family!"

"That stupid baby is NOT my sister!" Daizo yelled and tried to run away, but his father grabbed him by the arm and stopped him from darting off somewhere.

"Stop it, Dai-kun! You can't treat your sister or anyone else like this! That's not how life works!" His father scolded, obviously very disapproving of Daizo's volatile and inappropriate behavior.

"Why didn't you abort her?! She's gonna ruin my life and yours! She's gonna grow up throwing tantrums and always pooping herself and making people stare at us and being a baby forever! I don't want a retard for a sister!" Daizo yelled.

"Funaki Daizo! You _do __**NOT**_ use that vulgar language in this family, and you don't know that!"

"Yes I do! Everyone knows it! They said so in school and on TV! I don't want a sister, especially a stupid retard sister, yet you treat her like a queen and act like I'm nothin!" With that vociferous rhetoric, he viciously slapped his father, pushed his arm off of him, and ran away.

"Daizo…" His father found himself at his wit's end. Finally, the baby's crying ceased. But the baby is the only one who's happy around here, and for the wrong reasons.

* * *

"Oh my God, he actually did that?!" Marina and the fairies yelped, shocked out of her mind. Riko, Kyoya, and Fukiko told them everything they saw and said.

"That's just horrible! I get that he doesn't like the idea of having a sister, but he could go to jail if he suffocated her!" Anzu exclaimed.

"That's what I told him. But he's more stubborn than a mule whose hooves are duct taped to a rock," Fukiko told him.

"That's an interesting way of putting it," Riko said.

"Does he seriously believe that a person who has one disability has all disabilities?" Hotaru said grimly with her arms crossed. "He needs a major reality check. He can't go through life holding onto that notion, especially if he has a mentally challenged sister."

"I know, right?" Kyoya said.

"A lot of the babies we rescued came out disabled, and they're able to function just fine, and everyone treats them the same as everyone else, with a few accommodations here and there," Moonbeam explained. Yes, they're okay with talking in front of Fukiko, since she knows about them, too.

"That's true. Queen Malgorzata was especially adamant about helping the disabled learn the skills they need to live secure, independent lives," Starbeam piped in.

"Maybe we can take his baby sister and raise her on Rozaniela?" Lovebeam suggested.

"Absolutely not! That's kidnapping, and her parents love her! We only take babies who are orphaned, neglected, or abused!" Sunbeam snapped, appalled by the implications and potential repercussions of Lovebeam's suggestion. Cowed by Sunbeam's anger, the dumbfounded Lovebeam snuggled back into Kyoya's backpack. "Where's this Daizo kid? I wanna punch his lights out!"

"Last we checked he was in front of the bathroom. But even if you did punch his lights out, he won't change his attitude. He's always been like that, stubborn and controlling. If he says something, he expects you to agree with him and he'll do anything to make you conform to his beliefs," Kyoya explained.

"That's dumb. He can't make decisions for people," Lovebeam piped in.

"I'm done with him, that's for sure," Fukiko said.

Kyoya smiled warmly when she said that. Fukiko doesn't quite know it, but her stunt back there convinced Kyoya that she really is serious about changing her original attitude and making up with him. Now he wished he hadn't been so cruel to her a few days ago.

* * *

In the bathroom, Daizo punched a wall and kicked a trash can over. Some of its contents spilled right out, like some candy wrappers and a broken souvenir. His hand pulsated painfully after he punched the stone hard wall, but he didn't care. He slumped against the wall and slowly fell on his rear end. He stared up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, wishing everything was different. Normal, like he wanted it to be. Who decided it was okay for disabled people to live among them? Who says disabled people are just as capable of doing things as they are. He wished he knew, because he wants nothing more than to contradict them, to tell them all they're completely wrong in their perceptions. To him, normal people are better than those worthless cripples. Isn't that a rule that society makes them follow? Just earlier, he saw someone with a prosthetic leg happily chatting with his friends, and they acted like they never even noticed he has a prosthetic leg at all. Have times really changed?

Confused and conflicted, Daizo stepped out of the bathroom only to wind up bumping into someone as he did. He looked up to find an indigo haired woman with pinkish red, star shaped glasses, wearing lots of bandanas, a tank top, long jeans, and high heels. She looked like a hippie who popped right out of the 1960s.

"You should say excuse me when you bump into someone!" The indigo haired woman scolded.

"It's your own fault! You need to watch where you're going, you hobo!" Daizo yelled.

A vein popped in the woman's head. "I am NOT a hobo! Ooooh! Now you're gonna get it, you little brat!" The indigo haired woman snapped her fingers, which made a wall appear behind him. He tried to run for his life, but glowing ropes wrapped around his wrists and ankles, pulling him to the wall. Right after that, a Soul Portal appeared. The indigo haired woman peered into his Soul Portal, causing Daizo to scream and wail in his loudest voice possible. Nobody was around to hear him, so nobody came to his rescue. Soon, the indigo haired woman yanked out a glass orb, and it turned black. She threw it to the ground, where it grew bigger and morphed into a pitch black, normal sized rhinoceros.

"I thought he'd turn into something nicer, like a cheetah or a monkey. Oh well," The indigo haired woman said as she casually walked away from the scene without a second thought. The rhinoceros bellowed and began ramming into fish tanks, causing the glass to break and the water within them to come spilling out. People took their children and ran as fast as they could. Some got caught in the raging waters. One person got electrocuted by a jellyfish. Another had a piranha biting his hair.

"What is that?!" Kyoya asked.

Water came into the room. Not too much, but it came all the way to their feet. The fairies immediately made a bubble around Kyoya and lifted him and his wheelchair upward, away from the water. Electric wheelchairs and water don't mix, so that was a good move on their part. "Thanks, girls," He told them gratefully.

"You're welcome!" Moonbeam chirped.

"Fu-chan. Get out of here while you still can. We'll handle things here," Hotaru told her.

"But what about you? I don't want you to get hurt or drown or be stung by a stingray or something!" Fukiko pleaded, fearing for their safety.

"We're Pretty Cure! We'll be fine! You just focus on saving yourself," Anzu told her.

Although reluctant, Fukiko nodded. "Just be careful. Okay. If I see your parents I'll help them evacuate," Fukiko told them before dashing off. Right after that, a black rhinoceros bellowed and broke another fish tank, sending water all over the place. The girls were quick to transform.

"Pretty Cure, let the light shine!" After transforming, the girls used light beams to make a big hole in the roof, big enough for them to get the black rhino out of there. They managed to grab the rhino, but it struggled to get out of their grasp. Cure Twilight has its tail, Dawn and Dusk it's belly, and Starlight it's horn. The wings on their shoes turned big, and they flew through the roof with the rhinoceros in their hands. Kyoya and the fairies were about to follow them until they heard the vociferous sound of a baby crying.

Daizo's body, Soul Portal exposed for the world to see and infiltrate, and the baby stroller containing his wailing sister, both floated on the water.

"Daizo! Hurry and save them! Come on!" Kyoya exclaimed. The bubble flew over to them and Kyoya, with all the strength he could muster, pulled them both inside the bubble. After that, the fairies flew through the hole.

They managed to find an open area surrounded by trees, with no buildings or people within the vicinity, which made it safe for them to launch whatever attacks they could use on it. Cure Twilight started off with a Twilight Sparkle attack, but the rhinoceros kept on dodging the glowing boomerang and knocked the cat girl into a tree. Cure Dawn unleashed a Dawn Slam on it, managing to make it stumble a little, but it regained its footing and charged at her. Cure Dusk swooped down, grabbed it's horn, and tried to push it back. When that didn't work, she lifted it up like it was a bag of sweets and threw it into some trees, causing them to break beneath its weight.

"_My parents care more about that cripple than me…"_ The black rhinoceros bellowed as it charged at Cures Dawn and Dusk. Thankfully, both girls jumped out of the way and landed some punches on its back, not that they did any good. _"I'm normal! That's supposed to be a good thing! Anyone who's not normal is worthless!"_

"Oh, is THAT what you think?!" Cure Twilight bellowed as she unleashed an unusually strong Twilight Serenade attack on it. It managed to knock it over, but what the girls noticed is that a figure dressed like a hippie just barely managed to evade it and not be flattened like a pancake.

"Can you girls, like, watch it with the attacks? You almost made me flat as a pancake!" The indigo haired hippie woman exclaimed.

"Who the heck are you?!" Cure Dusk yelped.

"Um, like, my name is Beileag, but I'd appreciate it if you call me either Billie or B-chan. So you're the Pretty Cure, huh? I do love your fashion sense, but don't you think you should let up on those attacks of yours? That's my creation you're messing with," The indigo haired, hippie dressed woman, Beileag, told them casually.

"So you corrupted Daizo's soul and turned him into a Corrupt Sentinel?! That means you work for Zenjin, don't you?!" Cure Starlight said as she pulled out her naginata and smacked the rhino over the head with it.

"Corrupt Sentinel? Oooh! Now THAT is a good name for them! I never did like the whole Human Trash gig. I tried to make him go with something cooler, but he tries to blow me up every time I even so much as bring up the subject!" Beileag said as Cure Dusk unleashed a Dusk Medley on the rampaging rhino. But it knocked all of her fiery musical notes away and knocked her on the grass.

"Dusk!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she tried to punch the rhino, but it rammed it's body against her, throwing her on the grass as well.

"Starlight Shower!" Cure Starlight unleashed a rain shower of stars, falling on the black rhinoceros and causing it to bellow vehemently.

"_I don't like this! My best friend's a cripple now! I can't be friends with him anymore! Now I have a baby sister who's crippled! I wish she didn't exist!"_ The rhinoceros bellowed somberly as it rammed into some trees, almost trapping Cure Dawn had she not flown out of the way.

"Golden Dusk Explosion!" Cure Dawn slammed her nunchucks on the rhino and caused a large, yellow explosion all throughout the area. It didn't knock over any trees, which is good, but it barely managed to leave some marks on the rhinoceros.

"Do you seriously think that the only way for you to accept Kyo-chan and your sister is wishing they were normal?! By wishing their flaws and abnormalities are erased because you don't like them?! Get over it, you idiot! You can't change what they are, and you can't change them just for your own convenience! Besides, it's not like they wanted to be disabled! Kyo-chan was in a car accident, and your baby sister's brain was damaged during delivery! But that doesn't mean they're worthless, and it doesn't mean they can't do the things normal people can!" Cure Twilight yelled vehemently, her green eyes shining with courage, something she didn't think she had in her.

"_SHUT UUUUP!"_ The black rhinoceros bellowed as it charged at Cure Twilight, but she managed to grip its horn and stop it from going any further.

"Twilight! Be careful!" Kyoya exclaimed with worry.

"_I just...want to be normal...she'll ruin my life…"_ The rhinoceros cried sadly.

"No she won't, and if you ask me, NORMAL STINKS!" Cure Twilight yelled, keeping an iron grip on the rhino's horn, even though her grip isn't very strong on both hands. "I'm sick of people telling people to be normal! Normal stinks! All it does is make people mad and sad! People just want to put people in boxes and duct tape them in there because they don't like it, like you're doing with Kyo-chan and your baby sister...like everyone in Yokosuka tried to do with me! My sister always tells me to be normal because she hates me, even though I can't! But you can't live life wishing for the impossible! You have to make do! You have to embrace the different and learn how to live with it!" With that, Cure Twilight threw the rhinoceros at another set of trees, causing some birds to fly away. Daizo's baby sister continued to cry, but Cure Twilight tried to pay no attention, even though she wants nothing more than to cover her ears and run away. However, super heroes don't do that. Even she knew that much. Super heroes always right the wrongs of others, even if they're scared and want to run away and hide.

"You really have to hit them hard! Rhino skin is extremely thick, and they're pretty stupid so they'll do the same thing over and over again!" Kyoya shouted.

"Alrighty then! Get a load of this! Mandarin Dusk Inferno!" Without any mercy or restraint, Cure Dusk unleashed a huge tornado of hot, glowing, orange flames on the rhinoceros, which bellowed and roared like it was in excruciating pain.

"Jeez. Talk about overdoing it," Beileag said, a little cowed by Cure Dusk's strength and lack of restraint. "Seriously, she'll set the forest on fire!"

"Ready for the obligatory finisher move, girls?" Cure Starlight asked. The girls nodded and joined hands.

"Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!"

A radiant light flashed from the quartet, causing the rhinoceros to break into pieces, dissipating all the way down to the glass orb that is Daizo's soul. The fairies made the bubble disappear, allowing Kyoya to wheel around the grassy area. He picked up Daizo's soul and very carefully placed it back into his Soul Portal. The Soul Portal disappeared and the color returned to his face.

"Thank goodness we saved him in time," Cure Starlight said.

"Come on! I wish we could have just left him. He's not worth it!" Cure Dusk proclaimed. Cure Dawn donned a disappointed look and elbowed her. "Ow! Hey!"

"Wow. Zenjin's right. You frilly little girls sure are strong," Beileag said with large, sparkling eyes, like she witnessed a wonderful magic show. But the girls kept their guard up, since she literally just mentioned she's acquainted with Zenjin. The fairies and Kyoya as well.

"What do you, Zenjin, and Decebal intend to do with the Energia?! Take over the world?! Blow everybody up?! Erase our world and possibly others from existence?!" Cure Starlight asked vehemently with her naginata pointed at Beileag, even though they're far away from each other. Cure Dusk readied her bow and arrow and Cure Dawn readied her shiny nunchucks.

"Taking over the world is, like, so cliche. If Zenjin wanted to do that, he'd have done it by now," Beileag told them while shrugging, like she was having a casual conversation with some new acquaintances. "Besides, I'm not the one carrying out their plans. I just happen to be the adoptive mother of the one holding the Energia, and he's the one who uses it, not me. All I care about is buying pretty dresses because he keeps blowing up my stash!"

The girls sweatdropped. "Huh?"

"This is our evil villain's sidekick? Did she come out of a Disney movie or something? Is she supposed to be the bumbling type?" Cure Dawn asked.

"Who blows up dresses?" Cure Twilight asked.

"Honestly, I really don't care about what happens around here-" Beileag was about to say until someone cut her off.

"Beileag!"

"Decebal! Do NOT call me Beileag!" Beileag turned around to find Decebal behind her with a very disappointed look on her face, like a father who witnessed his kid do something bad, like buy overly sexual magazines.

"Your job is to gather information, and here you are dilly-dallying and gallivanting off in some waterlife museum!" Decebal scolded.

"Awww, come on! I really was trying to find some 411, but you know how hard it is with practically NO specifics on what to look for! Besides, I managed to find the Pretty Cure you've been telling me so much about," Beileag whined like a petulant little child.

"I don't have the patience for dealing with them right now. Come back home at once, Beileag. Zenjin's throwing a tantrum as usual and I can't control him," Decebal grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the scene.

"Hey! Wait! I wanna buy some new dresseeeees!" Beileag whined before Decebal made them disappear into thin air. Other than Daizo's baby sister's persistent and incessant crying, the meadow was oddly silent until Cure Dusk broke it.

"I can't take that hippie girl seriously," Cure Dusk mused.

"Me either," Cure Twilight said. "She acts like a ditz."

* * *

The girls returned to the now destroyed aquarium and turned back to normal. Their parents found them and tearfully embraced them, relieved to see their children are alright. "Marina! Oh, thank God you're alright!" Hatoko cried as she squeezed Marina so tight she didn't want to let her go.

"Where did you go?! We were so worried about you! The whole place flooded!" Kyouichi asked.

"Sorry. We tried to follow you, but the flood waters got too high, so we had to find an alternate escape route. I made sure everyone was okay," Hotaru explained to both her own parents and everyone else's.

"How come your wheelchair isn't sopping wet?" Kayoko asked tearfully after her worries got strongly swept away by a tsunami of relief, feeling complete again.

"We were on high ground," Kyoya replied sheepishly. Even he knew it was a terrible lie. But Kayoko and Jiroemon seemed to believe it, happy that his wheelchair isn't wet. If it was, it'd be broken and they'd have to pay thousands of dollars for a new one. However, at this time, they embraced Kyoya and held him tight like Hatoko, relieved that he's okay. Not only that, Daizo and his baby sister reunited with their family as well. But Daizo himself kept a scornful face the entire time.

Later on, the girls sans Riko went back to their parents and left. Kyoya and Riko, tired from the ordeal, found themselves sleeping in the car throughout the ride. "Jiro. Look," Kayoko whispered. Jiroemon turned around to find Kyoya and Riko sleeping in the back seat, with Riko's head on Kyoya's shoulder. Holding hands. Moonbeam and Lovebeam slept on Kyoya's lap. The two parents smiled sweetly, charmed by the sight.

"They're so cute. I'm glad they're safe," Kayoko told him, with some tears still struggling to creep out of the corners of her eyes.

"Yes. Me too," Jiroemon said as they found themselves within the vicinity of Riko's house.


	16. A Meeting Under The Starry Sky!

Author's Notes: Hello everyone. Juliko here! Thanks for the reviews and constructive criticism.

**MagnificentSoul**: Thank you for the lovely review and feedback. Yeah, I need to work on a lot of that. But don't worry. This chapter addresses some of the questions you had about Kyoya getting scolded for yelling at Rina and the fight with Daizo. I'll also try to work on making Daizo and the other classmates into better characters, even though I won't use them much for the story. Also, the chapters between this and chapter 24 (which isn't up yet but will be soon) will tone down the disability themes significantly, but they'll be present during chapter 25, which is a pretty important chapter. Also, regarding some of the issues you addressed, I wrote some more scenes and dialogue in this chapter directly addressing them, so hopefully this eases your worries a bit.

**Riynashay**: Thank you for the lovely review and PMs you sent me. I actually just started changing some stuff on chapters one and two, so hopefully that helps, and I'll try not to use so many big words in the future (But I will use them for Starbeam, because she talks in big words most of the time). Regarding the other issues, I just thought I'd try to dodge some typical cliches, namely the "everyone learns their lesson and changes for the better" cliche. But I'll try working on that in later chapters. Also, don't worry about Riko. She has friends and family who love her and care about her, even though some of her past experiences are actually important plot points for the story. Also as a little tid-bit: those bad experiences she goes through in her flashbacks only happen to her during the second and third grade, so they won't dominate her life or the entire story. Hope that eases your worries a bit! Also, thanks for the adorable picture of Cure Twilight you drew! It's so cute! I really appreciate it! I do hope you'll continue reading and enjoy it regardless! I'll also look into your beta suggestion. Maybe that's what I need to improve a little bit. I had one for my Digimon fan fic, but we lost contact.

**Heavy Lok**: Thanks for the review! I wanted to tackle some of these issues here, as I thought it'd be refreshing and interesting. But lately I've been getting a little heavy handed with it, so I'm trying to tone it down a bit. Disabilities are a common theme in the series, but not entirely.

**GeckoGecko554**: Thanks for the review, and that was exactly what I was going for! And yeah, I realize now that I've been getting a little too preachy with it, so I'll tone it down for the next few chapters. But there are times when I'll drop the anvils, especially later on in the story, so keep watch, and I have been doing some research, particularly with Anzu's vomiting problem that'll come up in a later chapter. And yay, autistics FTW!

**SJ12321 (aka Cure Neptunia)**: Thanks for the review! Glad you found that part funny, and yes, I have BIG plans for the villains in my fan series. I'll definitely continue writing and fixing some problems others have helped me discover.

Chapter 16: My Homophobic Mother! A Meeting Under The Starry Sky!

On a particularly bright and sunny Saturday afternoon, Starbeam packed a few things in the star shaped clip on her ribbon: books about astronomy, a bag of cookies, some bananas, and a bright, sunny, yellow and white picnic cloth. Hotaru is packing her telescope into a soft, black, suitcase like bag, her ocean blue eyes bright and radiant, twinkling like stars in the night sky. Once she finished carefully arranging the items in her telescope case, she zipped it up and put it on her bed.

"Do you think there will be clouds in the sky tonight?" Starbeam asked.

"I checked the weather report and it said it's going to be clear all night," Hotaru told her as she packed some meat sandwiches, a carton of chocolate milk, and a small bag of Fritos in a little green lunch bag with the words _Apple A Day Club_ written on it in black.

"I'm well aware of the weather report's prediction, but they could very well be wrong, and clouds could roll right into the sky, preventing us from seeing the stars and the meteors," Starbeam explained a little worriedly.

"I know. That would be a problem. Plus, this meteor shower only happens once every one hundred years," Hotaru said as she put some little tangerines in her green lunch bag.

"You're very excited about this meteor shower, aren't you? Your eyes are shining," Starbeam told her.

"I've always wanted to watch a meteor shower with my family, and this may be the only time we'll ever get to do it!" Hotaru explained cheerfully. Starbeam is right. Her ocean blue eyes are shining, and there's nothing in the world that could possibly cause them to lose their beautiful radiance. "Oh! Starbeam dear. Can you do me a favor and get my Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac To All Things Astronomy?"

"Your wish is my command!" Starbeam did a mock sailor salute and darted off to find the Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac To All Things Astronomy. It didn't take too long, as she managed to find the big, old blue book with some glittery stars on both the cover and the spine. It turned out to be quite heavy and thick, which isn't surprising since she's very small, about the size of a very tiny stuffed animal. Or a Nendoroid figurine. She pulled it out and stored it in her star shaped bow clip. "Do you happen to possess any knowledge regarding if our beloved companions will accompany us or not?"

"I know Mari-chan and Anzu-chan are coming, but Riko-chan can't. She has to work on her school project, and she says she's almost done. Plus, she's not allowed to be out at night. I don't blame her. Hikage can't come either. He has a lot of homework to do," Hotaru explained as she looked through another one of her astronomy books.

"I know for a fact that Lovebeam isn't very fond of stargazing. She finds it to be terribly ennui-inducing," Starbeam said. Hotaru let out a chuckle.

"I can probably guess why," Hotaru said.

All of a sudden, Sojiro, one of Hotaru's fathers, came into the room with a bright smile on his face. Starbeam plopped on Hotaru's bed and went into pretend stuffed animal mode. His flat, black hair looked nice and shiny today, he shaved his small beard, and his deep blue eyes are also bright with anticipation. "Hey, Hotaru-chan! You certainly look crazy prepared," Sojiro told her happily.

"I've been wanting to prepare for something like this for a long time, so I did my research," Hotaru told him.

"I'm glad I managed to get off work today and do this with you," Sojiro said as he sat down on her bed.

"Me too. Have you ever seen a meteor shower before?"

"Nope! Same as you. But I have seen some shooting stars, and those definitely don't come by very often. It's a shame Hikage-kun can't come today. I know you two get along really well."

"He has a lot of homework to do."

"I remember my high school days. The teachers were quite strict, and I was relatively decent at school, but I didn't really like it much. I liked history and music, but that was about it. My mother was always wailing on me about all the C's I got in everything, calling me lazy and ungrateful and inconsiderate. She always sent me to good schools and paid good money, but even though I studied hard, I never could get the grades I wanted. She wanted me to grow up to be a doctor, because that's considered a high paying profession. But I wanted to perform in jazz clubs and play the saxophone. Did you know I was voted Most Likely To Break It Down On The Dance Floor in my school's yearbook superlatives? I also got voted Most Musically Talented."

Hotaru laughed out loud. "You? Breaking it down on the dance floor? I can't picture that!"

"I think I still have my high school year book. I'll see if I can find it before we leave," Sojiro said as he got up and left the room, giving Starbeam the liberty to laugh out loud, right along with Hotaru.

"I'm afraid I cannot picture Sojiro-san breaking into dance out of nowhere!" Starbeam laughed merrily.

"You're telling me!" Hotaru laughed.

'_Hotaru-san is very lucky. She has two parents who shower her with an endless supply of pure, unfeigned, unadulterated love, even when it seems the odds are against them. Rozaniela has a plethora of homosexual, bisexual, metrosexual, asexual, transgender, and omnisexual people residing on the planet, and nobody even so much as raises a fuss. Earth may or may not be the same way, but I'm happy that Hotaru-san has parents who love her,'_ Starbeam thought while regaining her equanimity, figuring Sojiro might come back any minute.

Which he did, with his old, dusty, ragged yearbook in hand. He even brought Kyouichi along with him. They looked through his yearbook together and laughed at the silliness of the old days, especially at how silly looking Sojiro looked when he was young. Hotaru wanted to ask if his school friends knew if he was gay, but then she decided against it, not wanting to hurt his feelings. Maybe he didn't know he himself was gay back then. All she knew was that he came out to his parents before she was born, and they didn't take it well.

When the sky was covered with a dark blue blanket with glittering jewels on it, crowned by the beautiful, round, marshmallow white moon, Hotaru, Starbeam, Sojiro, and Kyouichi drove to a very wide, open, grassy park that's just outside the town, as that's the best viewing spot. When they got there, they discovered a lot of other people are there as well, complete with flashlights, picnic baskets, picnic quilts, telescopes, etc. When Sojiro and Kyouichi set up their picnic spot, Hotaru pulled out her Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac To All Things Astronomy and was about to read it until she saw some familiar faces loom over her.

"Anzu! Marina!"

"Hey there, starseeker," Marina flashed a preppy smile as she said that. Anzu came wearing her usual preferred mode of raiment: black hoodie, black bondage pants-this time with electric light blue stitching-purple tennis shoes, and a white shirt with multicolored pretend paint marks on it. Marina came wearing a short sleeved white shirt, a light blue sweater whose sleeves are wrapped around her waist, beige khaki pants, and black and orange sneakers. They were accompanied by Moonbeam, Sunbeam, and Lovebeam, who flocked over to Starbeam happily.

"We thought this'd be a great time for us to get together," Moonbeam told her erudite older sister.

"I'm ever so glad you took the liberty of coming here," Starbeam said, her heart aglow with gratitude for their appearance.

"I normally don't like events like this, but we rarely ever get to see each other anymore, so I figured I should come. Oh! I also made you a nice little star themed dress over the weekend!" Lovebeam said as she tapped her heart shaped bow clip. A blue light appeared which turned into a cute little frilly midnight blue dress with snow white stars printed all over it, a beautiful lace bodice, white star shaped buttons going across it, and lace on the hem. Starbeam took the dress and put it in her own bow clip.

"That's so nice of you, dear Lovebeam. Thank you very much. You really didn't have to go to the trouble of making it for me," Starbeam told her bashfully.

"It's no problem! I haven't made dresses in a long time, and I've been dying to make some. I even made some for Moonbeam and Sunbeam, too! But I already gave them theirs," Lovebeam replied joyfully, happy that her younger sister likes the dress she made.

"How did you two get here?" Hotaru asked Marina and Anzu as they sat down at their picnic quilt.

"My mom took us. She's always wanted to stargaze," Marina said as she pulled out a glass of soda, yanked off the cap, and began drinking it. Anzu pulled out her harmonica.

"It's a shame Riko-chan couldn't make it, but I can understand why. Schoolwork, little sister, not staying out late, that kind of thing. I already finished my project," Anzu piped in.

"What'd you do yours on?" Marina asked.

"The rabbit," Anzu replied. "It's my favorite animal. What about you?"

"The fox. It's my favorite animal," Marina replied back.

"Huh. Didn't you get turned into a fox-shaped Corrupt Sentinel?"

"Ehehehehe…" Marina laughed bashfully and rubbed her fiery head of orange hair. "That's what I heard from Riko. Mine's not finished yet, though."

Hotaru ruminated upon that. "Whenever Zenjin corrupts someone's soul, it turns into a black animal. Riko-chan did say that your soul got turned into a fox-themed CS. Fukiko's soul turned into a chicken, Kyoya-kun's father a frog, Uomisaki-san a German Shepherd dog, and Nanako-san a horse, etc etc. You just said that your favorite animal is a fox, Marina, and you got turned into a fox shaped CS. I wonder if maybe the animals are physical manifestations of their souls representing certain aspects of them."

"You might be right. I never thought about that. I always thought they were just random monsters of the week, nothing more," Anzu piped in. At this time, Hatoko came over to the Minamigawas and began chatting with them happily. Marina flashed a sweet smile at her, happy that she finally gets the chance to smile.

"Wow. That's rare," Anzu piped in.

"What's rare?"

"You're smiling. You hardly ever smile."

"Yeah. I'm gonna work on that. My mom got a promotion at her job, and she has the whole month off so we get to spend time together. Plus, she's actually meeting other people and getting along with them. Usually she's scared to meet new people. I don't blame her considering what happened to her. I'm happy she's finally coming out of her shell."

"Umm...sorry if this sounds rude to ask, but...exactly what did your dad do that was so bad? I hear he's some notorious criminal, but I've never heard anything about him, and I'm sure Riko doesn't either," Anzu asked as politely as she could, hoping she didn't press any buttons or hurt her feelings. Everyone knows Marina tends to flare up and lash out at people whenever they say anything about her parents. Surprisingly enough, Marina didn't explode like an erupting volcano this time, like she usually does.

"It's fine. I never really talked about it. Anyway, Wakita Shouji…" Marina began, then paused. "When he was a teenager, he dropped out of school and made a living selling drugs. Crack, cocaine, meth, you name it, he sold it. After that, he joined some gangs and robbed a bunch of banks. Later on, he raped five women, my mom included. She said he did it right after she graduated high school. He even went as far as to rape a little five-year-old girl, kill her, and stuff her body in a drainage ditch because she threatened to tell on him. He got arrested after that."

"Oooh. That's horrible," Anzu said.

"I know. My mom's been in therapy since before I was born, and most of the time she's outright scared of everything, always looking around, thinking someone's following us. But now she looks like she's ready to take on the world. We're actually planning on visiting him soon."

"Why?" Hotaru asked.

"Mom and I have some bones to pick with him," Marina replied, taking one of Hotaru's meat sandwiches and proceeded to stuff it in her mouth while Anzu began playing her harmonica. A lovely, rustic melody filled the air, pacifying anyone who bothered to listen.

"Hey! Does anyone remember the Fairy Festival?" Lovebeam asked.

"Oh! I love the Fairy Festival! We could ride alicorns, eat fairy candy, watch fireworks, dance around the flower trees, pay our respects to our ancestors, all of that stuff!" Sunbeam piped in cheerfully.

"My favorite activity was the light shows they would put in the sky during the night. They're so absolutely breathtaking and awe-inspiring," Starbeam ruminated. "But I also liked the poetry readings and storytelling sessions."

"I really liked the play that they put on two years ago, called Starlight Starbright. If they ever show it again, I'd love to have Riko watch it, because the main character in that acts the same way she does, and I think she can relate to Stellaluna," Moonbeam said.

"Speaking of Riko-chan, I do notice she doesn't act like the other kids. Sometimes I notice she flaps her hands up and down, jumps up and down when she's happy, always covers her ears at loud noise, and other kids are mean to her. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just curious," Sunbeam piped in. "And you're right! Riko-chan DOES act a lot like Stellaluna, and they share the same struggles!"

"I overheard her parents say that she's autistic, but I don't know what that means. I'll ask her about it later," Moonbeam piped in. "Stellaluna was autistic."

"Hey, look! The show's starting!" Lovebeam edicted.

Everyone looked up to see a rain of glowing white lines darting across the midnight sky in huge numbers, sending it aglow. The citizens down below were awestruck and watched as the rain of white glowing lines darted across the sky. Hotaru already got her telescope ready and looked closer. The lights are actually rocks surrounded by white flares, looking like glowing white tadpoles with tails, but without feet. Everyone's eyes sparkled upon fixating on the meteors, just like the starry sky right now. There seemed to be no end to them. The sky looked like it was raining, but the rain isn't wet, it's glowing. Hotaru's eyes widened in amazement at the beautiful display, and so did everyone else's. Even the fairies were captivated by the wondrous sight.

Hotaru glanced to her left, but she noticed a young woman standing next to her, also awestruck by the rain shower of lights. It's dark, but Hotaru could make out her features. Her hair is pitch black like the night, straight like an iron, and goes down to her shoulders. She's wearing a dark purple sweater, beige khaki pants, and black dress shoes. Hotaru assumed she's just a regular stargazer who came alone. She's not bothering anyone, so they just watched the stars together. What a fantastic and eye catching display!

* * *

April came to a close and May opened its doors for the public, allowing the spring weather to continue on like usual. But the citizens of Hikaribashi could tell that there's a distinct warmth in the air, trying to give it a lovely scent. At Hikaribashi Middle School, Hotaru and Hikage are in their science class, working on an experiment demonstrating Boyle's Law with two other kids. Everyone is in groups, working to measure the volume and pressure of air, oxygen, hydrogen, and helium according to Boyle's Law. Hikage is pressing the plunger, Hotaru is writing down results. Another girl is pressing another portable plunger, another boy is writing down the various results.

"This plunger sure is hard to push," Hikage said as he pressed it again, this time measuring the volume and pressure of oxygen.

"You're telling me," Hotaru said as she wrote down the volume and pressure of oxygen. But in the process, some unwanted gossip filled the air.

"I feel really bad for Tasogare-san. He's stuck with the stuck-up homo."

"He better stay away from her or else she'll turn him gay."

"Is it true she has homos for parents? That's pretty gross."

"I wonder if she's secretly a-"

"Focus on the experiment!" The male teacher shouted at the gossiping kids, managing to scare them into shutting up and continuing with the experiment. Hotaru's face turned a little somber as she recorded more results.

"Is something wrong, Hotaru-chan?" Hikage asked. Hotaru said nothing and continued with the experiment.

Later on, lunch time came around, which gave Hikage the opportunity to talk to her about the gossip from earlier. "You're bothered by what they're saying about you and your dads, aren't you?" Hikage asked with concern after he ate some rice he got at the cafeteria. "You're hardly eating your lunch."

"Yes. I am. Ignoring it has usually worked, but...I just can't stand it when they spread those false rumors around and act like I'm some kind of virus spreading a disease, and I especially hate it when they talk about Dad and Kyouichi like that. What do they know?" Hotaru said before consuming a slice of celery.

"Some people are just dumb like that," Hikage said as he ate some more rice. "Your parents are good people. I know that much. Those idiots are too stupid to see past that and focus only on the fact that they're gay."

"At least you understand," Hotaru said before sighing and burying her face into her arms. "When I was little, kids would either throw stuff at me, call me derogatory names, or ignore me like the plague just because my parents are homosexual."

"That must have sucked."

"It did. Really. Do you remember that girl named Hanae?"

"Yeah, I remember her."

"I used to be like her at one point. I used to get angry at my parents and ask why I don't have a mom like everyone else. I even tried to run away once when I was eight. But I got lost and they found me. I guess Riko and I aren't too different from each other, huh."

"Well, you have a friend now, and that's me."

Hotaru could feel her eyes blurring, and she knew what was causing it. She wiped her eyes, pulled her face out of her arms, and smiled. "I thank God every day for you."

Hikage blushed and rubbed his head of brown hair with a bashful laugh. The talk seemed to cheer her up, thankfully. They got through the school day and parted ways. Hotaru went to naginata practice and found herself a bit more hyped up about it than usual, putting in her strongest efforts. Even her coach was impressed. But when Hotaru looked around the practice building, she noticed the woman from Saturday standing around, watching. The same black haired woman who stood next to her. Now Hotaru could see her eyes. They're a brownish shade of orange, and she looked like she wanted to approach her but couldn't muster up the courage. _'Perhaps she's the mother of someone who practices here,'_ Hotaru thought, trying not to let her guard down. Again, she managed to take someone down and win the sparring match. But later on, the woman disappeared. After that, naginata practice ended and Hotaru walked home.

When she got home, however, she noticed the woman from before and Sojiro talking at the front door. She stopped in her tracks, unsure of what to do. She clutched the strap on her naginata case tightly. Should she go inside or not? Lots of questions swirled around in her head like a cotton candy maker. Are they acquaintances? Sojiro looked grim as he was talking to her, and the woman looked sad with the fact that her orange eyes looked like they were about to burst into tears. Hotaru wanted to make out what they were saying, but they're speaking in such hushed voices that she can't make anything out unless she got closer. She wanted to get closer, but she wondered if they were speaking about an extremely private matter that nobody else should know about. She was about to turn away until the woman raised her voice. Not to yell.

"I know I've been cruel to you and Hotaru, and I'm sorry. I really am. I know how ignorant and selfish I've been these past fifteen years. But...can't I at least see my own daughter?"

Hotaru stopped again this time, but turned around in alarm, her braid twirling about and dangling down her upper back. Her ocean blue eyes are wide like saucers, and she couldn't control the ungraceful dropping of her jaw. The woman mentioned she was cruel to her and Sojiro. She wants to see her daughter. She's been absent for fifteen years. Hotaru couldn't believe it. Could that woman be…?

"Mayuko...I want to believe you. I want to believe you've changed. But...your parental rights have been terminated long ago, and...you've made your opinions about me and Hotaru very clear," Sojiro told her in a soft but grim voice.

Hotaru's hand flew to her throat, and her eyes became wider than ever. Mayuko! Mayuko is Hotaru's mother's name, the one that Sojiro was forced to marry against his will! The woman who left them because she was a selfish and very vocal homophobe. She's finally come back after all of these years? Hotaru found herself frozen in her spot, unable to move with the revelation striking her like a lightning bolt on a clear day.

"I don't think that way anymore, Sojiro. I'm not the person I used to be anymore. I...I know I'm not technically her mother anymore, but...I want to at least be a part of her life...and-" The door flung open. Out came Kyouichi. Upon laying eyes on the somber, orange eyed woman, he became livid.

"So you're the Mayuko I've heard so much about!" Kyouichi suddenly shouted angrily. Poisonous bitterness literally consumed every fiber of his voice, if voices could have fibers at all. "You sure have some nerve showing up here after all the pain you've put So-kun and Hotaru-chan through!"

Mayuko looked down at her feet and said nothing, like she expected Kyouichi to say that. Hotaru knew he would, though, as Kyouichi is known for being extremely bold and vocal about what he thinks. He's honest, and never sugar coats anything. For Kyouichi, her silence meant something else, and he continued with his harangue. "Have you come here to harass him some more?! Sojiro's been through enough pain because of you!"

"No! Of course not! I...I'm sorry about everything! Really, I am!" Mayuko protested.

"Tch! You expect me to forgive you just like that?! Are you that convinced a simple fake apology is going to magically fix everything and make us forget everything you've done?!"

"No!"

"You're not sorry at all, you homophobic witch! You left Sojiro in dire straits and abandoned your own child because you're too stupid to embrace the fact that there's nothing wrong with being different! You acted like Sojiro and Hotaru had some disease! _'Ooooh! I'm gonna get HIV or AIDS because I made love with a maggot and fathered his child who I just KNOW is going to be a maggot no matter what because that's what I think! Everybody knows gay people are gross and need to have the homosexuality ripped out of them because I think it's gross!'_ Give us a break!" Kyouichi bellowed while making a rather forced imitation of Mayuko's voice.

"I don't think that way anymore!" Mayuko shouted.

"Yes you do! Why are you even here anyway?! To harass Sojiro some more?!"

"I want to be a part of my daughter's life!"

"Oh, is that so?" Kyouichi crossed his arms, not convinced that her apologies are sincere. "You really missed out, y'know. Hotaru is a wonderful girl. She gets good grades in school, she wants to be an astronomer when she grows up, she has great friends, and cares about other people. But you don't see any of that, do you? All you see is a disgusting mass of skin and bones who will OBVIOUSLY be a disgusting gay maggot because you say so! You really couldn't care less about your own daughter. Don't think I don't know what you did! You ran off on Hotaru because you just couldn't care less about a child of a gay man! Now after fifteen whole years you just pop right up and NOW decide you want to be a part of her life?! Get over yourself, you heartless witch! We're not gonna let you ruin her life because you're too stupid to accept that us gays are people just like you and everyone else on this planet! Besides, you terminated your own parental rights long ago! You can't get them back, and I don't even want you to! Hotaru has better things to do than talk to a stupid, selfish, homophobic piece of trash like you!"

Hotaru couldn't believe everything that was coming out of Kyouichi's mouth. Sure, she knew he was bold and vocal about what he liked and hated, but she never knew he'd go this far to a woman he barely knows except from stories Sojiro told her. The shocked look on Sojiro's face proves that even he's surprised by how far Kyouichi is going. Mayuko clenched her fists.

"I know what I've done wrong. Don't think I don't realize what I've done. I know I've been cruel to you, and...I'm sorry. I'm not the same person-"

"NO YOU DON'T! You don't even know the extent of the dire straits you put Sojiro and Hotaru in before I rescued him! And I know for a fact that you're NOT sorry! You just don't want to take responsibility for what you've done!"

"If I didn't want to take responsibility, then I wouldn't have come here!"

"Kyouichi. Please-" Sojiro put a hand on his lover's shoulder, but he angrily brushed him off.

"We have no need for someone like you. Now get you, you pest! Get out or I'll call the police and have you arrested for stalking! Better yet, you can die and go to Hades, because that's where homophobes like you are better off! I don't want to see your ugly face near this house ever again!" Kyouichi roared, pointing to the end of the street. After that, he slammed the door right in her face. Sojiro, although reluctant, followed, and closed the door gently, leaving Mayuko all alone on the front porch. Some tears trickled down her beet red cheeks.

Slowly, she ambled off the porch and passed right by Hotaru. She wanted to leave for good, since that's what Kyouichi wanted. But something stopped her.

"Hayashibara-san?"

Mayuko turned around to find a concerned looking Hotaru standing behind her. Instead of rancor and animosity consuming her ocean blue eyes, Mayuko is surprised to find that they are full of concern and sympathy. Even Mayuko couldn't help but find it surprising.

"Hotaru…" Mayuko muttered.

"So...you're my mother?" Hotaru asked in a soft, tender voice.

Grimly, Mayuko nodded. "I am," She was just waiting for her daughter-the one she abandoned so long ago because she was convinced she'd turn out gay, just like her father-to throw insults at her and call her out on her treachery, just like Kyouichi did. But instead, she felt a gentle but firm pat on her shoulder.

"There's a bench over there. We can talk if you want," Hotaru told her kindly.

Mayuko's brownish orange eyes widened. Hotaru actually wants to talk with her? Shouldn't she be angry at her? Mayuko was more confused than a kid lost in a crowd of people. But she silently accepted Hotaru's offer and ambled over to the bench. The two sat down and a silence creeped in between them. Mayuko shifted in her seat, unsure of what to do. What should she say? Should she initiate small talk? But what could they possibly talk about? Mayuko knows absolutely nothing about Hotaru except for that Kyouichi just told her.

"Kyouichi can be a bit brash sometimes," Hotaru piped in softly. "He doesn't mince his words."

Mayuko nodded in agreement. "It would seem so," Then a somber expression overtook her. "But...I deserved every last word of it. He's right. I've been so cruel and selfish...I'm so sorry I abandoned you, Hotaru. If I could turn back time and change everything, I would."

"What happened after you left Father?" Hotaru asked. Mayuko was surprised to hear that Hotaru's question doesn't have any hatred or bitterness to it. But then again, Mayuko left when she was just a baby, so of course she barely knows anything about her. Her heart felt like it was being squished in between two rusty bricks rubbing together.

"I tried to get by on my own. I had a decent job and a house. But the place I worked at closed because of my boss getting arrested on embezzlement charges, and I couldn't find another job to pay for my house. I got evicted, and...I was homeless for a while. But some friends I worked with found me and saved me from my situation. They've been so generous. They got me a better job and offered to let me live with them for a while," Mayuko explained calmly, but her voice cracked sadly. "I lived with them for a few months...but that was enough for me to find out that they were homosexual," Some tears began to trickle out again. "I...I thought about hating them and cursing them and telling them to go get cured. But...then I thought about the wonderful things they did for me. How could I hate them when they were there for me when I needed them the most? They even proved to be a better family than my own family could ever be...they taught me that homosexuals aren't any different from normal people. They deserve respect just like others do. That's when...I realized how awful I've been toward you and your father…"

Hotaru listened intently, interested in her mother's tale. She didn't tell her to shut up, interrupt her, or claim she knew her better than she did, like Kyouichi did. But she knew one thing for sure: Mayuko is definitely remorseful. Tears are literally pouring out of her baggy eyes like waterfalls. Thick bags hung from the bottoms of her brownish orange eyes, looking like excess skin. Her shoulders are hunched, her limbs-plump as they are-looked like they had a lot of energy sucked right out of them, and some wrinkles definitely made their marks on her young face. Mayuko kept on clutching her pants like she wanted to squeeze something out of them, maybe something she could use to turn back time and fix everything. The fact that she realized the error of her ways and came here at all was enough to convince Hotaru that her mother is serious about having changed and wanting to make up with everyone.

"Hotaru...you have every right to hate me. I've been a terrible wife to your father and an even worse mother. I deserve all the punishment you can give me. I...I know I don't have the right to be your mother anymore, but...I'd like to get to know you better-" Mayuko mused sadly until she saw a piece of paper behind held in front of her face. She looked up to find Hotaru is the one handing it to her. She gently took it and opened it. It has a string of numbers on it. She looked at Hotaru again, with a look that seemed to ask what those numbers are.

"It's my cell phone number. I'd love for us to get together every so often, like go to little diners and get lunch," Hotaru told her with a soft, sympathetic smile. Mayuko found herself speechless. She thought this was an illusion at first, but she knew it was real. The paper crumpled under her hand, so it's real. Soon, more tears flowed out.

"I...I expected you to be the one to hate me the most, and yet...you do this for me…" Mayuko croaked through her tears, putting a hand on her face in a miserable attempt to stop them from flowing, which came out in vain.

"Better late than never, right?" Hotaru said, keeping her smile. A smile suddenly painted itself on Mayuko's tired face, setting it aglow with relief.

"Ugh! This tiresome display is making me sick!" A deep, rich voice suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere, prompting Hotaru and Mayuko to stand up in alarm. All it took was for Hotaru to look up to find Decebal, with his rapier in his hand, floating in the air, looking down at them.

"Decebal!" Hotaru shouted.

Decebal wasted no time in shooting a ball of energy at Mayuko, which turned into a black, bubble-like force field. It came so fast, Hotaru didn't have time to do anything. Not only that, her Soul Portal appeared, and Decebal shoved his hand in there to grab her soul. Once he was done, he dissolved the force field and allowed Mayuko's unconscious vessel to fall out of the sky. This time, Hotaru was able to grab Mayuko and place her on the bench. She pulled out her Heart Lighter and transformed.

"I am the lights that illuminate the darkness, Cure Starlight!" She grabbed her blue naginata and aimed it at Decebal. "Drop my mother's soul right now!"

"Why should I? This is the woman who abandoned you when you were young because she believed in false stereotypes a little too strongly. I really don't see why you forgave her so easily. Wouldn't you be happier if she turned into Human Trash?" Decebal asked condescendingly as he turned Mayuko's soul a deep black color. Then, it glowed, grew bigger, and turned into a black guinea hen, which began pecking at the roofs of houses, causing tiles to fall on the ground.

Cure Starlight wasted no time sending a flying frontal kick to the giant guinea hen. It wasn't enough to send it to the ground, so she slashed it's abdomen with her naginata, causing it to cluck in pain. After that, she put it away and began delivering a flurry of punches at breakneck speed, managing to send it to the ground. Thankfully for Cure Starlight, it didn't fall on any houses. The sound did, however, attract the attention of some individuals who popped out of their houses just to see what the heck is going on. Some even pulled out their cell phones to record the event while others ran for their lives screaming like they're being attacked by an alien invasion. The guinea hen struggled to get back on its feet. Cure Starlight turned to Decebal and gave him a scornful look.

"Hm. You're quite powerful for such a delicate maiden," Decebal said, actually sounding impressed, but Hotaru wasn't buying it. She pulled her naginata out again and pointed it at his chin.

"Cut the garbage, you snake! Tell me! Did you and your wife help Zenjin get the Energia? Queen Malgorzata says you were one of the royal guard in charge of guarding the security systems in which it's kept, which means you had to have some kind of access to it!" Cure Starlight demanded in a booming voice.

"Wow, she's awesome!" One little boy exclaimed.

"Is she some kind of superhero?" One girl asked.

"I wanna date her!" One teenaged boy piped in.

"She better not be like that purple kid who keeps destroying everything," Hotaru grimaced when she heard the old man make that caustic comment.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you, even though the information won't do you any good. Yes, I was one of the royal guard, and I unlocked all of the security levels so Zenjin could get in and snatch it. It turned out to be easier than baking cookies," Decebal explained rather calmly. Almost too calmly.

'_Just like that?'_ Hotaru thought, surprised by the fact that he's opening up about this. Usually villains are tight lipped about their plans, and Zenjin and his gang are no different. "What are you and Zenjin after?! Why did you help Zenjin steal the Energia? People are dead because of your machinations!"

"That's none of your business, you nosy little pest. Just go home and please your husband. You're better off. I have some business to take care of. Have fun with your little playmate!" Decebal said before he shot a ball of energy at Hotaru and disappeared. Hotaru managed to knock it away with her naginata. The good thing is, the ball of energy she just deflected didn't hit any houses. It flew right in the sky, and soon disappeared.

All of a sudden, the guinea hen managed to get back on its feet. _"I'm a terrible wife...and an even worse mother...if only I could turn back time!"_ The hen suddenly tried to peck at some humans, who screamed and ran as fast as they could to preserve their own lives and not be chicken feed. One kid tripped right in front of the guinea hen. It was about to eat him until Cure Starlight swooped in from above and caught its beak with her naginata.

"Stop this, mother!" Cure Starlight commanded as she shoved the naginata further into the guinea hen's beak. She then hopped on it and proceeded to land a rather strong punch to the guinea hen's face, causing it to stumble a little bit. She did a backflip and landed back on the concrete street.

"Starlight Shower!" Cure Starlight pointed to the sky and brought forth a shower of glowing stars which fell on the guinea hen. Soon, the guinea hen dissolved into nothing, revealing only Mayuko's glass orb. Cure Starlight gently picked it up and proceeded to amble to the bench where Mayuko is. All of a sudden, she tripped on a small pothole, and the glass orb slipped out of her hands, flying in the air.

"Oof! NO!" Cure Starlight shouted with horror. If the glass orb broke, Mayuko would die...and Hotaru would lose her chance to get to know her. Sure, Kyouichi wants her to die, but Hotaru doesn't. Cure Starlight tried to get the orb, but she's too far away.

Thankfully, Mayuko's potential death would be postponed.

A set of hands managed to grab the glass orb before it could shatter on the concrete. Two human ones and two fairy ones. "Got it!"

"Anzu-chan! Lovebeam!" Cure Starlight shouted as she found herself able to stand up again.

Yes, Anzu and Lovebeam are the ones that caught Mayuko's soul orb right in the nick of time. "Sorry we came so late. We heard the commotion and came as fast as we could...but it seems you already took care of it," Anzu said.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Lovebeam asked with concern as Anzu handed the soul orb to her.

"I'm fine. Thank you very much," Cure Starlight told them gratefully, with a smile glowing with gratitude. She then dropped the soul orb into Mayuko's Soul Portal. The color returned to her face.

"I wish we'd have come sooner," Lovebeam said.

"It's alright, dear. By the way, I managed to get some information out of Decebal. You know how Queen Malgorzata told us he was one of the royal guard, right? One of the troops assigned to guard the security system keeping the Energia safe?" Cure Starlight explained, her expression serious this time.

"Yeah," Anzu said, suddenly getting an idea of what might have happened.

"Decebal's the one who unlocked all of the security systems and allowed Zenjin to steal the Energia. He confirmed it himself. But he won't spill it as to why he and Zenjin want the Energia," Cure Starlight told her.

"I figured as much," Anzu said. "Every new bit of info counts, right?"

Lovebeam made a pouty face and crossed her arms. "I really want to beat up Zenjin. He deserves it for being so mean to Sunbeam!"

"You'll get the chance," Anzu told her as Cure Starlight turned back into Hotaru. "By the way, I really enjoyed the meteor shower on Saturday. It was beautiful."

"Me too," Hotaru said.

"I'm gonna go hang out at Kyo-chan's. I'll see you later!" Lovebeam exclaimed before darting off. Anzu and Hotaru waved at her.

"I'm gonna run, too. I'll catch you later, okay?" Anzu said before running off with a wave. Hotaru waved back with a soft smile.

When Anzu and Lovebeam were out of sight, the floppy eared pink fairy spoke. "Hey, Anzu-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't help but ask. You never seem to want to stay in your own house. You're always outside doing something. You even do your own homework outside. Why is that?" Lovebeam asked.

Anzu stopped walking right as Lovebeam asked that. She looked down at the grass below her for a little bit. "Well...I don't really like being in there. You've heard the constant phone calls, right?"

"Yeah. They do get really annoying," Lovebeam agreed.

"They're from that stupid mom of mine, and Dad is always yelling at her. For my sake, yeah, I get that, and I like that he's against her. But I'm sick and tired of all the yelling. At least it's nice and peaceful outside," Anzu elaborated further.

"Good point. But your dad really loves you. Can't you at least spend time with him every once in a while?" Lovebeam asked.

"I'd like to, but he works a lot, and he gets grumpy when he's tired. Don't worry, he doesn't abuse me," Anzu clarified. "He's nothing like my mom."

"I see," Lovebeam said. "But...I think your dad would like it if you spent at least some time together. Maybe he gets lonely."

Anzu had to admit, Lovebeam had a good point. But she couldn't believe all of this was coming from the whiniest, brattiest, and most overly dramatic fairy of them all. Anzu looked down at the grass again, this time with a pale, dejected face. _'I want to spend time with him. But whenever we're in that house, she calls and sends us those threatening letters! I don't want to put up with her anymore! Why can't she just leave us alone?!'_ Anzu thought as she gripped her harmonica tightly, like she never wanted to let it go.

All of a sudden, she felt like she was going to vomit.

* * *

"Kyouichi...I think you shouldn't have yelled at her like that," Sojiro told Kyouichi in the kitchen, right after he kicked Mayuko out. "Don't you think you were a bit harsh?"

"No," Kyouichi replied pertly. "Honestly, I don't think I was harsh enough!"

Sojiro cringed a bit. As much as he loved his husband, he did wish he'd be a little less bold. "I've been thinking...what if maybe she has changed?" Sojiro told him, barely above a whisper. "I mean, there are lots of people who start off homophobic at first but then stop being so. Maybe-"

"Sojiro! Have you forgotten everything she's done to you?! What your own parents have done to you?!" Kyouichi snapped angrily.

"No! I haven't!" Sojiro argued back, louder this time. "But I don't want to spend my entire life being angry and dwelling on the past, thinking people I know will always stay the same! Remember when I told you about Kashino-san? He always used to pick on me for my sexuality, but I ran into him years after our high school graduation and he apologized for everything! He even has a few friends who are homosexual! If he can realize the error of his ways, I'm sure Mayuko has too!"

"You're so naive, Sojiro. I like that you always try to see the good in everyone, but if you're too nice, everyone will just take advantage of you," Kyouichi told him grimly. "Some people change, and others don't," He put a hand on Sojiro's shoulder gently but firmly. "Sojiro...I want to agree with you. I do. But I've been through worse than you have. I just don't want you to get hurt again. You and Hotaru. You two have been through enough already."

"I know, Kyouichi. But just like there are consequences for being too nice, there are consequences for being too bold and harsh, like you tend to be, like just now," Sojiro told him.

* * *

When Lovebeam returned to Kyoya's room, she found him working on some homework that was assigned over the weekend. Not wanting to bother him, she sat in a corner of his room, grabbing a ball of yarn and working on some knitting. Yes, she knits. Kyoya breezed through some math problems like they were a katakana test without a sitch. But as he stopped, he found himself taking a trip down memory lane.

(flashback)

_A little after Kyoya yelled at Rina, he felt thirsty so we went downstairs to get some water. He wheeled to the kitchen and got a small glass and drank it. But after he put his glass down on the counter, he turned around to find Saki coming into the kitchen, with a soft but slightly concerned look on her face._

"_Hi, Tasogare-san," Kyoya said._

"_Kyoya-kun...would you mind if I spoke to you outside?" Saki asked softly._

_Already he knew what she wanted to talk about, but decided not to protest. "Sure," He and Saki went to the front porch._

"_I heard you yelling at Rina earlier," Saki began._

"_Sorry. It's just...she was going on and on about how much she hates Riko and all this garbage about her not supposed to have friends and having no feelings and all that stuff!" Kyoya explained, trying to keep his cool._

"_I understand. It's great that you care about Riko so much. She's never had a friend like you before. However...while I do understand you had good intentions, yelling at Rina like that just wasn't the best way to go about it," Saki explained as kindly and calmly as possible. "She's only seven years old."_

"_So? Someone had to call her out on it! Riko's been telling me all about what she's done since we first met! I've been through it myself, and Riko doesn't deserve to go through it like I have! Do you even know what she says about her?" Kyoya exclaimed, louder this time._

"_I do, Kyoya-kun. I've known about it for a few years now, and I agree. None of it is okay. None of what Rina says and does to Riko is okay. I scold her every chance I get, but she can be stubborn. In fact, I just got a call from her school saying we need to work on her behavior. Believe me, Kyoya-kun. We're working on this, so don't think we're turning a blind eye. However, I don't want you yelling at Rina like that again. Okay? I know you're a good person, but the way you handled it wasn't the most appropriate. I just don't want you to get in trouble. Understand?" Saki explained as calmly as she could._

_Kyoya nodded reluctantly. "Sorry. My old friends ditched me when I came back to school after the accident."_

"_I see. You're quite bitter about it, aren't you?"_

"_Why shouldn't I be? If your friend decided to ditch you because of something you can't help, you'd be mad at them too, wouldn't you?"_

"_In a way, I would. But I try not to let my anger take over my life or affect what I do. Kyoya-kun...don't get me wrong. I know you had good intentions. Riko is very fond of you. She talks about you, Anzu, Hotaru, and Marina every day. I understand how you must feel. However, there are better ways to handle the situation, and yelling isn't one of them. That just makes it worse. I know you think yelling will make it get through to them, but sometimes it just doesn't work, especially if you're too harsh, like you were with Rina just a few minutes ago. I just don't want you to get in trouble."_

_Kyoya grimaced a bit. She had lots of very valid points, and he had to admit, he does get a little too harsh when it comes to personal things. Even his parents know that. "I know. Thanks. I thought you were gonna yell at me."_

_Saki shook her head. "I don't like to yell at people. I'd much rather scold people in a nice way, mostly kids, because I know yelling doesn't help."_

(end flashback)

Kyoya sighed. _'I guess I have been a bit harsh. I should work on holding back a little bit,'_ Kyoya thought as he started on some spelling homework. This isn't the first time he got scolded for standing up for someone. Just a few days ago, after he called Daizo out on the way he treated Riko during PE, the teacher called both of them to the principal's office and they endured some lectures on how starting fights isn't acceptable on school grounds, no matter the reason. They both have to go to detention for an hour next Tuesday. Daizo wound up getting another extra day of it for picking on Riko, so Kyoya is at least happy nobody's turning a blind eye to his treachery. In fact, they can give them both all the detentions they want. At least Riko won't have to get in trouble, and maybe it'll convince Daizo that the world doesn't revolve around him, doubtful as he is.

"I wonder what I should put on this sweater," Lovebeam mumbled out loud as she continued her knitting.

Kyoya turned around. "I didn't know you knit."

"I do. Mother taught me. She finds it soothing, and I'm starting to see why. Doing the same thing does have its perks," Lovebeam replied sheepishly.

Kyoya smiled sweetly. "I should learn how to do that some time."

"Boys don't knit!"

"There are some that do."

"Oh, wait! Then again, I've seen Father knit."

"See? Boys don't have to just like and do boy stuff. Have you seen all the guys who really like My Little Pony now?"

"Yeah. I don't mind."

"Me either."

Soon, the two of them found themselves giggling up a storm. He had to admit, as selfish and bratty Lovebeam can be at times, he found her strangely easy to talk to, and she's quite a good listener, too.


	17. Starbeam Is Kidnapped!

Chapter 17: Starbeam is kidnapped! The Pretty Cure are in trouble!

Hatoko drove the Asagi family car on a street heading for a jail. Marina sat in the front seat, watching the scenery fly right by. The trees going by looked a lot like fast moving pastel paints on a blue, grey, and white canvas as they sped past it. Finally, they arrived at a small gate operated by a security guard. Hatoko rolled down her window.

"I'm here to see Wakita Shouji," Hatoko told the gruff-looking security guard.

"Does he know you're coming?" The officer asked.

"No."

The man pointed to another part of the big white building. "Go the back way. It has a special entrance for cases like these."

"Thank you," Hatoko said as she rolled up her window and drove to the back parking lot.

She parked her car in a lot which, as it turned out, isn't very populated. Hatoko and Marina got out and walked to the back entrance. An officer greeted them politely and escorted them inside. The building is surprisingly clean, with sleek, shiny titanium walls, built in tables and chairs for the lunch room, everything is shiny, like they did some intense renovations on it. Marina could see some doors that have bars on them, and some prisoners' faces peeked out the windows to take a look at what's outside, unable to go out unless they're instructed to do so. Just being here made Marina's stomach churn and her body go jittery, but she didn't dare show any fear. Today just isn't the day for it. Soon, they arrived in front of a door.

"We have officers guarding every entrance, even during visits like these so as to protect the guests from harm. They're always on call, so if anything happens, we'll be there to make sure the prisoner is detained at any cost," The officer explained. "I'll be here so he doesn't do anything skeevy. Alright?"

This made Marina sigh with some relief, especially since she glanced at the officer's taser, pepper spray, and pistol, all of which he has strapped to his belt. Unfortunately, it didn't ease Hatoko in any way. In fact, she just stood there, trembling and jittery, eyes wide with naked fear, frozen in place, her weak legs looking like they're ready to buckle at any moment. She clutched the strap on her purse tight, like she wanted it to make her relax and keep going, but it didn't work.

"Are you scared, ma'am?" The officer asked. Marina looked up at her with a worried look. It wasn't hard to figure out why. She's about to meet the man who broke her and ruined her in every way possible, just for his own pleasure. Of course she'd be afraid. Who wouldn't. "We don't have to do this if-"

"No. I...I...I have to face him. If I don't, I'll never be able to find any closure," Hatoko croaked out weakly but bravely.

"Alright. I'll stay in case anything happens," The officer told her as he pulled out some keys and unlocked the thick door. The door made a very loud, squeaky creak as it flung open, revealing a little room that's totally bare and undecorated except for a tiny little table, some small chairs, a little light dangling from the ceiling, and a very small window that's so small and rectangle shaped, not even the tiniest child could go through it without being stuck there forever.

Wakita Shouji sat in one of the chairs, accompanied by two officers.

Marina's eyes widened just upon laying her golden eyes on him. The man is skinny but very intimidating, with wide, big eyes that are a gold color, just like her own eyes, that are filled to the brim with absolutely nothing but rancor and animosity for pretty much everything. His hair is extremely thin and spiky, a fiery orange, just like Marina's hair, but hers is curly. A small goatee circled around his face, with a small beard protruding from his chin. He has a huge array of ear piercings, covering every single part of both his ears. He has a large, X-shaped scar on his right cheek, different from the gnarled scar on Marina's left cheek. He's wearing a carrot orange jump suit, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal some tattoos covering both of his arms. Marina looked away from the tattoos because they contained graphic depictions of men hurting women, the men with happy faces that looked like they were laughing right out loud, having the time of their lives. The volatile, vicious looking man has silver, shiny handcuffs, binding his hands together to keep him from doing anything to the visitors, along with chains on his legs.

Just laying eyes on this man made Marina want to take two steps back in fear. THIS is her father? THIS is the man who brutally hurt her mother? Marina never did know what he looked like other than some pictures from various newspapers Hatoko kept regarding his eventual arrest, but they were small and in gray scale. But now she wished she hadn't seen him. This is the man she was spawned from! The guy just absolutely reeked bad news. Suddenly, Shouji made a contorted face that looked like he saw something disgusting, like noisome dog poop in the middle of the street.

"Wha'chu doin' here, slut?! Get outta mah face, yo! Or do you want some more of me?" Shouji asked in an extremely scratchy, gruff voice. Marina wanted to duct tape his mouth shut, it was that bad. She could tell Hatoko is shaking violently, but frozen in place with naked fear, unable to move.

"There's someone here you should meet," The officer said.

"This little trash? I done what I wanted with her long ago!" Shouji yelled vehemently, referring to Hatoko.

"No. Your daughter," The officer said.

Shouji raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You's trippin', homie. I ain't got no daughter."

"Actually, yes you do," The officer told him while gesturing Marina to come out.

Mustering her mettle, Marina reluctantly stepped into the room, in full view of Shouji-her father. At first, Shouji found himself in stunned silence, unable to quite comprehend Marina's existence at first. When he finally managed to process her appearance, he let out a smug, toothy smile. "Heeeey...you ain't so bad lookin'. Looks like I'mma daddy! Come here and gimme a big ol' hug!"

Just hearing that slithery, gruff voice made Marina want to sock him in the mouth. Instead, she balled her wrists and kicked one of the chairs, snapping Hatoko out of her fearful trance. Marina gave him a scornful look, wiping the smile off his face. "I'm not here to suck up to you, bucko. Just be happy I'm not trying to strangle the life out of you right now, and believe me, that's what I really want to do to you right now," Marina hissed.

"Ooh. You gots some attitude 'dere. I like that," Shouji sneered gleefully.

"Cut the garbage!" Marina swiped her hand at him. "I want answers! Now! Why did you hurt my mom?! What did she ever do to you that was so bad?"

"Hey hey! Chill, chill, girlie. I'm yo daddy!"

"No. No, you're NOT my father. You spawned me, but you're not my father!" Marina exclaimed, slamming her fist on the table. "Real fathers don't go around hurting women for their own pleasure! Real fathers take care of their children, help them with their homework, spend time with them, and support them when needed! And no, I am NOT talking about your possible definition of "spend time with" either!"

Shouji found himself silent, but not in a stunned way. He looked more bored than anything, rolling his eyes. Marina found this to be extremely offensive and continued her harangue. "You think this whole thing is funny?! Do you know how much my mother and I have suffered because of you?! Look at this scar!" Marina shouted angrily before pointing to her scar. Shouji didn't even glance at it. "One of the women YOU raped attacked me with this thinking I was you!"

"Tomatsu-san? Man, she was real fun! Gave me the best arousal I ever got!" Shouji bellowed merrily, which only exacerbated Marina's anger. Who brags about their rapes? Marina wished this guy wasn't her father. Why couldn't she have been born to someone decent?

"I've been picked on, beat up, shunned, ostracized, demonized, judged harshly, and spent my whole life with no friends because of you! It's your fault kids at school hate me! They're convinced I'm gonna grow up to be just like you no matter what just because I'm your kid! I bet that's what you want, isn't it?" Marina shouted again. She was surprised. Already she could feel invisible weight being lifted off of her. Shouji said nothing, completely lacking in remorse for his actions. Marina figured as much. How can a stone hearted man like him possibly be capable of remorse if he brags about his crimes and even has tattoos featuring his encounters with the women he hurt? Hatoko continued to remain where she was, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to relax, even with the officers in the room with them. Marina, however, is on a roll.

"But you know what? I'm NOT going to be like you, and I'm definitely not going to follow in your tainted footsteps! You know why? Because I'm a decent person! I actually found friends who like me and appreciate me for who I am, and don't care about me being your kid!" Marina shouted, but in a softer tone this time. She didn't want to stop. She's been dying to let it all out for a long time. She already undid the lid, and her torrent of emotions are flooding the room. He doesn't look like he's drowning in them, but she doesn't care at this point. "I'm gonna be a rock star when I grow up! In fact, Mom and I are living our lives just fine without you, so you can rot in jail forever for all we care! It's obvious you don't have any shame for what you've done, so all the better for us!"

Again, Shouji said nothing. Marina turned to Hatoko, who continued to tremble. "Mom? Anything you want to say to him?"

Hatoko said nothing.

"Y'know...I like you and all, but I wish you'd been born from one of dose other women I done. Dis slut ain't nuddin!" Shouji hissed.

Marina scowled at him and slammed her hands on the table. "You're wrong! My mom is awesome! She's done so much for me! She put her life back together for my sake, went to therapy for help, and is actually living her life! You broke her and traumatized her for life, but you didn't destroy her. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. That means we win and you lose, bucko! It's pretty obvious you only see women as objects for your own pleasure, but don't think we're gonna suck up to you, wacko!" Marina turned to the door. "Come on, Mom! We're done here."

Marina was about to stomp through the door, feeling relieved at finally calling Shouji out on his malice and treachery until Shouji had the nerve to make this callous comment: "Aww, come on, yo! Why can't you be more like me and not dis trashy slut here?! Yous know you gonna be me whedda ya like it or not!"

Marina balled her fists. After all of that, he's actually convinced she'll be like him no matter what? Marina hissed under her breath. She figured as much. He has the exact same attitude as everyone else. Oh, how she yearned to slug him and make him suffer for the pain he caused her and her mom. She wanted to pop his face open and have blood gushing out. However, she knew she'd get arrested if she did that, and she didn't want to get arrested. To her, getting arrested is the equivalent of stooping to the same level as Shouji. It's bad enough that they have the same color hair and eyes, and the fact that they both have scars on their faces. Reluctantly, she suppressed the urge to sock him, even though she wanted to go all out.

Someone else, however, finally snapped.

Hatoko's eyes suddenly went large. She finally broke from her inner prison in a bloody-eyed fury, slammed her hands on the desk so hard the entire table shook, and even managed to make Shouji almost fall off of his chair in surprise! Even Marina couldn't help but be shocked. Is this really her mother? The fragile, broken woman who Shouji ruined for his own pleasure? Her eyes are bloodshot, looking like they wanted to pop right out of her face, overflowing with scorn and hatred. Her teeth are grinding, like she wanted to bite him and make him suffer for making her suffer.

"YOU MONSTER! YOU SICK _SICK __**SICK**_ MONSTER! AFTER ALL OF THAT YOU STILL WANT HER TO BE LIKE YOU?! YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE WHAT KIND OF PERSON SHE'LL BE!" Hatoko shouted in her highest, angriest, screechiest, loudest voice yet. She didn't think she could ever scream this loud, but she is. Marina even had to cover her ears, just like Riko does whenever people yell, only Riko does it because her hearing is extremely hypersensitive. Marina leaned against the wall, both cowed and extremely impressed by her mother's sudden massive explosion of bravery and courage. Even the police officers backed away, cowed by her sudden fearsome explosion of rage.

"Go kill yerself, you b-"

"NO! YOU kill yourself! My life was ruined because of you! You hurt me and aren't even sorry for it! Every day I live in fear! I haven't spoken to my parents and relatives in years because you defiled me! I had to take on two jobs and leave Marina with babysitters just to make ends meet! Are you proud of yourself?! I'm sure you must be, since you're a sick monster who only cares about selling drugs and raping women for your own self-satisfaction! Tell me, NOW! Why did you rape me?! What did I do to you that was so bad?! I want answers NOW!" Hatoko screamed again, tears flying out of her eyes with the hysterical way she's shaking her head.

Although cowed, Shouji kept his disgusted look. "You wanted it. I know it. But out of all the girls I done, you were the worst! You din even arouse me, yo! Your screams didn't even turn me on, and screaming and crying usually does!"

Flames erupted in Hatoko's already bloodshot eyes, blazing wildly with no intention of stopping. Not even a huge tsunami would put them out. "Oh, is THAT why?! You go around raping women for pleasure?! To get turned on by our suffering?! You ARE sick, you know that?! You're not human! Go kill yourself! Better yet, go get raped by the prisoners in here for all I care! You deserve it! Prisoners LOVE raping rapists and child molesters, so you're set for life, you pig! You shouldn't even exist!" Marina facepalmed. She knew her father was a monster who only cared about himself, not the people he hurt, but she never knew he'd ruin their lives just to feel good. Not only that, he just confessed that he gets turned on by the sound of women screaming and crying as he's hurting him. Hatoko's right. This guy IS a sick monster. Marina has a sick, heartless monster for a father. This made her stomach churn.

"Marina is NOTHING like you, nor will she ever be! She's not even your daughter! She's way better than you'll ever be! Only she gets to decide what kind of person she'll grow up to be!" Hatoko shouted, her voice toned down a little this time. "She's her own person first! She doesn't deserve to live being defined by you!" With that poisonous piece of rhetoric, Hatoko turned on her heel and left the room. Marina was about to follow her out until Shouji began screaming like a loon again.

"Hey! HEY! You can't just cut me off like that! I'm yo daddy! Hey, Maiko-"

Marina turned around and gave him a scornful, hate-filled look, which made him shut up. "My NAME is Marina! Get it right! And I already have! Goodbye, _Shouji_!"

Shouji just sat there, dumbfounded. Marina thought he looked pretty stupid with that flummoxed, confused look on his face. With that, Marina left the room forever. She severed her kinship with him with a whack of the knife, and wow, did it feel good to finally give him what he oh so rightfully deserved! Hatoko and Marina made it to the car with light hearts, free from the fear and hatred that he trapped them with. But they didn't leave right away.

"You were awesome in there, Mom! I didn't think you had it in you!" Marina exclaimed happily, exalting her mother for her awesome bravery. Hatoko buried her face in her hands and began crying. Marina could tell they weren't sad tears, but tears of joy.

"I didn't...think I had it in me either...he's a sick monster…" Hatoko wailed in her hands.

"He sure is," Marina agreed.

"I...I finally feel free...for the first time in my whole entire life...I haven't felt this free in years…" In response to this tearful confession, Marina put a hand on her mother's back and rubbed it gently. She's right. Before, they felt like they had huge tons of bricks duct taped to them. Now, they felt light as feathers, ready to be carried across the wind to a brighter, happier future without any difficulty.

"You sure ripped him a new one. He totally deserved it," Marina told her with a soft, gentle smile.

"I...I've been wanting to do that for years...Marina...you're your own person. You're not him, nor will you ever be. He's stupid to decide what you should and shouldn't be…" Hatoko choked on her words, but Marina could hear her loud and clear. After that, the girls took some time to calm down a bit. Hatoko wiped away some of her tears.

"Feeling better?" Marina asked gently.

A smile got painted on Hatoko's face, and it wasn't a sad one either. It's a glowing, radiant, genuinely happy smile, like the one she donned when she told Marina she got the promotion. She truly looked like she hadn't smiled so freely and so radiantly in years. Now, nothing was stopping her from smiling at the whole world. "Yes. Better than I've felt in fifteen years. I'm glad you talked me into coming here. It really did do some good. Now how about we get some ice cream!"

Marina's golden eyes lit up, and her smile was radiant with childlike excitement. "Yeah! Can we go to Frozen Rock? I want their powerful pistachio pizazz!"

* * *

On the same day, Rina sat in her room, reading some more Baby Sitter's Club books on her bed, right next to Miss Unicorn. But she's surprised to find that it isn't making her happy. She couldn't muster up the motivation to continue reading. It didn't give her satisfaction like it used to. Feeling bogged down, she closed her book and threw it on the floor. She tossed on her bed and hugged Miss Unicorn tightly, so tight she felt like she was never going to see her giant, beloved unicorn plushie ever again. Kyoya's yelling from the other day kept replaying in her head like a tape recorder. She wished she could turn it off, but it refused to give her a break. Not even covering her ears like Riko would do helped any. She definitely remembered how helpless she felt, the humiliation, the feeling of having everything she knows be torn up in front of you and told that it's all wrong, that everyone lied to her, and that everything she's done is bad and hurts people's feelings.

She wanted to tell him he was wrong in everything he said to her. She wanted so badly to tell him that he's wrong, that she's the good one and that Riko is the bad one. But she couldn't. She just couldn't deny it anymore. It was high time she faced reality once and for all, just like he wanted her to do: Kyoya's right about everything. The kids at school are right about everything, too. It was like they read her entire being with just one look, one listen to her yelling at Riko over something silly, and called her out on everything. After getting brutally ripped apart that day, Rina actually did reflect on her actions, but not until after Saki finally sat her down and explained Autism to her.

(flashback)

_Rina wailed and cried and howled and bawled out loud for what appeared to be hours while Saki sat in her room with her to comfort her. "YOU'RE MEEEAAAAN!" Rina bawled, hoping Kyoya would hear it, but who would bother to care at this point? Finally, she calmed down. Saki sat down with her._

"_Rina. I think it's about time you learned why Riko is the way she is," Saki told her in her softest, gentlest voice possible._

"'_Cause she's weird and dumb, that's why!" Rina snapped tearfully._

"_No. She has Autism," Saki told her gently but sternly._

"_What's that? Is that a disease?"_

"_No. It's not a disease. It means Riko's brain didn't quite come out right when she was being born. Her brain takes in new information differently than normal. Not only that, she's more sensitive to certain things, like really loud noise," Saki explained as lucidly and calmly as possible. Rina made a contorted face like she was having trouble taking it all in._

"_Is that why she ruined my 5th birthday party?" Rina asked with a grumble._

"_No. She was just bothered by the rap music playing in the boom box, and you know I kept telling you to turn it down, but you refused to listen!" Saki explained, trying not to succumb to the urge to yell at her._

"_Whatever this autism thing is, she needs to get over it!" Rina sneered._

_Saki put both hands on Rina's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, which convinced Rina that her mother is in absolutely no mood for more of her attitude. "Rina. Listen to me. Autism doesn't go away like a cold. In fact, it stays with the person forever. There's no cure for it, so we have to learn to live with it. You're right in that Riko does tend to do odd things, like rock back and forth or flap her hands, but it's only to either calm herself down or make herself happy, not to weird people out or make you afraid of them, and having autism definitely doesn't mean they're not smart or have no feelings. It also doesn't mean they do nothing but scream and cry and not talk. There's a lot of successful autistic people out there who can function in the world just as well as normal people can. They just need a little bit more help and support, Riko included, but they still deserve just as much love and respect as everyone else on this planet does,"_

"_But everyone at my last school said she's weird, and weird people-"_

"_They're wrong, Rina," Saki interjected. "They're wrong, and you need to get whatever they told you to believe out of your head, because they don't know Riko like we do. There's something else I need to tell you also. You don't remember because you were too young, but when Riko was little, people were extremely mean to her. Both kids and adults. They picked on her, yelled at her when she didn't do anything, made her cry every day over nothing, beat her, called her names, everything. They were convinced she was a bad girl when she isn't, and even told me and Arinao that we were bad parents. That's why we moved, because we couldn't tolerate them being so cruel to Riko. We had to fight for years just to transfer her to another school because they were too stupid to confess their crimes and kept making things hard for us. We wanted to move earlier, but we didn't have the money."_

_This time, Rina listened intently, and was actually surprised by what she heard. People are actually mean to Riko? At first, the concept seemed alien to her until memories she didn't think she had flashed into her mind, like times when she saw Riko storm into the house literally bawling her eyes out, crying about how kids and teachers were being mean for no reason. Memories of Saki and Arinao on the phone with people they seemed to hate, yelling at them and telling them they're wrong about Riko popped up as well. Rina definitely remembered feeling sad when she saw Riko bawling and crying her eyes out over whatever it was that made her sad. Sometimes, Riko would cry for hours and she would see Arinao sitting silently with her, holding her close and stroking her back without stopping until she finally calmed down. It happened so often that Rina grew to find it annoying and began to openly tell Riko to stop bawling like a baby at whatever it is she was crying about, thinking she did it just to get attention._

"_So...she was never trying to annoy me at all?" That was all Rina could choke out._

"_No. You know Riko doesn't do anything for attention or to be a brat or make things bad for everyone. People at Yokosuka just thought she was because they're too stupid to understand that different doesn't mean bad. That's also something I really want you to understand, Rina. Just because someone's different or behaves in ways you think are weird or gross or odd, it does not mean they're bad, mean, or doing it to get attention or annoy you. Autistic people just need a little help in learning how the world works, and we have to be nice and clear when we do so, because sometimes they mishear words and think we're talking about something else," Saki explained further in a soft voice._

"_Does that mean...everything those kids at school taught me is wrong?" Rina's eyes watered again. She definitely wanted to cry this time, but chose not to._

"_I'm afraid it is, Rina. But we can learn something new from this. The school can help you work on improving your behavior for the better, so you can make friends and learn to treat people better. You may not like it, but there are times when we have to do and learn things we don't want to because it's good for us. I'm sure Riko would like that."_

(end flashback)

Rina was ardently convinced everything she did didn't hurt Riko. Everyone told her people like Riko aren't capable of understanding what's being said to them, no matter how mean it is. She's so stupid she can't understand a thing. She has no feelings. That's what they all told her. But how had she not realized that-though she is uncoordinated, somewhat clumsy, freaks out over little things-Riko is no different from other people she's met? That she actually understood all the mean things Rina said and felt even basic emotions like happy and sad. Was she truly that stupid to have assumed her autism made her older sister completely unable to understand that she made fun of her?

Rina thought about everything she's done to Riko. She's called her names, threw stuff at her, dropped a toy in a place she shouldn't have which caused Riko to trip and fall, berated her in public in order to make her look bad, blamed her for stuff she didn't do (and for messes Rina herself caused, like the chocolate milk covered Moomin doll incident), and even deliberately told people to avoid her. If other people did this to Riko in the past, but worse, then Rina realized she's turned into the very kind of person Riko doesn't just hate, but is absolutely terrified of. No wonder Riko took everything she did extremely hard, unlike other siblings she saw. Rina basically recreated everything Riko wanted to get the heck away from once and for all, all because some stupid kids at school tricked her into believing they'd be her friend if she picked on her forever and ever. Rina buried her face into Miss Unicorn's fur and slammed her little fists in her, hoping the stuffing would come out. None did. Rina wished she wasn't so stupid and bratty.

How could she think that Riko was stupid when Rina is the one who never understood that she was hurting her. No, not just hurting her: literally tap dancing all over the emotional scars she sustained in school before she was born. But Rina wasn't there when Riko was being hated and mistreated by everyone and their mom. She was barely two years old when Riko was being abused up the wazoo in the Yokosuka school system, so in a way, it was understandable. But not knowing about it still didn't justify deepening the scars Rina left on Riko.

Later on, she pulled herself out of Miss Unicorn's fur, leaped off her bed, ran out of her room, and darted toward Riko's room, where she found her lying face down on the floor, working on what appears to be a project for school. She's gluing a printed out picture of a cat on a white, tri-fold presentation board. She's not using the bottled glue, but the glue stick. After she put it on the presentation board, she then proceeded to rub the pink end of the glue stick on the back of a paper she printed out, with lots of information on the cat and its history. Rina froze in place and clutched her skirt, unsure of whether she should approach her or not. Her project certainly looked good. She could see lots of pictures of cats glued on there on various parts of the board. Mustering her mettle, she balled her fists and silently ambled into the room.

"Hi, Oneechan. Wanna play My Little Pony figures with me?" Rina asked in her nicest, gentlest voice possible.

"Sorry. I can't. I have to get this done. I have to present it tomorrow or I'll get a bad grade," Riko told her as she firmly pressed the paper onto the presentation board as hard as possible, hoping it'll stick.

"Okay. How about after you're done?" Rina asked again.

"Can't. I have more homework. I found out I have to study for a math test later, too," Riko said as she rubbed more glue on another piece of paper she printed out.

Rina looked down dejectedly. Her first attempt to be nice to Riko failed. _'Oh well. Maybe I'll do better next time. Mom says if I don't succeed at first, it's good to try again and again until you do,'_ Rina thought as she turned around to walk back to her room. _'But still...I wish she'd at least play with me. She never plays with me,'_ Rina thought again. At least she tried.

* * *

Friday came in like a lion, even though Riko wished this particular Friday would never come. She got her project finished, and brought it with her to present to her English class, but her entire body is covered with goosebumps, and she felt jittery all over just being there, knowing that she's going to get picked soon. She wished she could hide somewhere so she wouldn't go up there and have Yuji's lackeys laugh at her or disrupt her presentation. Her mouth felt like it was glued completely shut, and she knew it'd be impossible to pry it open if she were to go up there. She did, however, enjoy Fukiko's project about the lion and Chinami's project about the aardvark, which happens to still be going on. But she still wished some Corrupt Sentinel would appear and wreck everything so she can become Cure Twilight and defeat it so she wouldn't have to go up and present her project.

"Lastly, aardvarks are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day and are awake during the night, but there are some animals who stay awake during the day regardless of whether they're nocturnal or not. That's pretty much it," Chinami said. Nobody else seemed to care about her report other than Fukiko and the teacher, much to Riko's chagrin. One of Yuji's lackeys is busy picking his nose (gross!). Two girls are playing tic-tac-toe in a notebook. Another boy is drawing doodles on his desk, which she knows is against the rules. Riko wished they'd be more considerate.

"Thank you, Takayama-san. That was a very nice report," Mrs. Oginome told her as she went back to her seat. "Next up is Tasogare Riko."

"Booo!" One of Yuji's lackeys, Shimura, booed, which made Riko feel even more tense than before. Mrs. Oginome stomped over to his desk and stared daggers at him.

"If I hear that out of you again, you're gonna get a detention! Do you hear me?" Mrs. Oginome scolded, causing Riko to cover her ears for a bit. Shimura scoffed, crossed his arms, and looked away. Riko wanted to go home. But she saw Chinami and Fukiko smiling at her, probably an attempt to cheer her up a bit. Nodding back, she picked up her project, set it up in front of the chalkboard, exhaled a sigh, and decided to try her hand at it. Everyone's eyes are on her, much to her inner horror. But she didn't dare express it lest she give them an excuse to laugh at her.

"Um...my report is on the cat," Riko began. She wondered if she stuttered a little, but she kept going. "They're the most common house pets around. Cats have been, uh...domesticated for about 10,000 years. Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats and considered them to be Gods, which is why they made things like the Sphinx. Sometimes they were mummified so they could be with their owners for all eternity," She heard a snicker in the crowd. But she kept her voice loud and clear for all to hear...and possibly ignore. "They also mummified the rats they would eat so they'd have something to eat in the afterlife. Mice were a big problem back in the old days because they were dirty and carried diseases, so people tamed cats so they could be used to eat the mice, since cats typically eat mice. Cats are related to other species like tigers, lions, lynxes, leopards, cheetahs, and it's common ancestor, the African wild cat. Cats have many means of communication like meowing, hissing, purring, growling, and others depending, uh...on the situation. Cats aren't nocturnal, but they can see just fine in the dark when hunting or trying to find food when needed. Their hearing is also very sensitive, and they can hear lots more sounds than humans and even dogs can. Cats also have their own way of taking a bath by licking their fur. Their tongues have prickly hooks on them that act like the ones you find on common hair brushes so it'll be easier to take the dirt out-"

Riko hoped to God nobody would laugh at her. Unfortunately, her prayers went unanswered as another one of Yuji's lackeys, Fujimaki, suddenly exploded in a paroxysm of laughter, bellowing like he heard the funniest joke ever. Some other kids joined in on his laughter. Riko turned absolutely purple. Thankfully for her, however, Chinami and Fukiko were quick to be disappointed.

"Stop laughing, you idiots!" Chinami yelled, appalled by their complete lack of consideration.

"You guys are so dumb!" Fukiko yelled, agreeing with Chinami.

Mrs. Oginome, red with disappointment and anger, stomped over to Fujimaki's desk and slammed her hands on it. "Care to tell what's so funny?" Mrs. Oginome asked sternly. At first, Fujimaki and the other kids didn't answer, which only exacerbated her boiling hot anger, which she struggled to suppress so she could keep a cool yet stern facade. "If I ask a question, it's your job to answer it, so answer the question! Just what is so funny about Riko's presentation?"

"What's so funny?" Fujimaki snorted. "The fact that she's a kitty lovin' retard, that's what!"

If words could be arrows, the words Fujimaki was shooting out of his mouth definitely pierced Riko's heart and left a big hole in it. Mrs. Oginome is NOT pleased. "You and everyone else have detention with me TODAY!"

"But that's not fair!" One kid snapped.

"It's not fair to disrupt someone's presentation, now is it? Now go stand out in the hall until I say it's okay to come in!" Mrs. Oginome shouted. Knowing it was futile to contradict her, the kids who laughed left, but not before throwing in some maligned gossip.

"Yay, we don't have to listen to that big baby ramble anymore."

"You got that right, homie."

Mr. Oginome turned back to Riko. "Please continue with your report."

Riko stared down at the rug below her, the energy in her body completely drained. She didn't feel motivated to keep going anymore. Their words pierced her heart yet again. She had to wonder how much more she had to take. "I'm done…" She muttered somberly.

"Okay then. That was a very nice report," Mrs. Oginome said, a little discontented by Riko's sudden change in demeanor. The bell rang, which caused the kids to storm out of the classroom. Riko was the last to get out, however, as she packed her stuff rather slowly. Chinami and Fukiko could tell why: she's upset about Fujimaki and the other kids laughing. They walked over to her with concern in their eyes.

"Don't worry about them. I thought your report was nice," Fukiko told her kindly.

"Me too. Fujimaki and his buds are a bunch of bozos. They should never call you those mean names," Chinami piped in.

"I knew it would happen. I just knew it. I wish we didn't have to do this stupid project at all! This is what happens! People always laugh at me! Do people make me do presentations just so they can make kids laugh at me?!" Riko started off with a soft voice, then shouted and stormed toward homeroom in tears.

Riko was still fuming even as she got home. She threw her project on the living room floor in a rage and stomped toward her bedroom. She happened to pass right by Rina. "Hi, Oneechan. How was-"

"Go away, you brat! I've been through enough garbage for one day! Don't make me feel worse than I already do!" Riko shouted before stomping into her room and slamming the door, which made a very loud thud causing Rina to grimace. This convinced Rina that Riko is NOT in the mood for any interaction with anyone today, so she went back to her room.

* * *

Thankfully, Riko's anger and horrible feeling of humiliation died before the weekend started. Before the day ended, Anzu called to ask if Riko would like to come to her house to hang out with everyone. Riko realized she has never been to Anzu's house before. She made sure to ask Saki first, and she actually said yes! Riko told Anzu about it and they agreed to meet at 12:00 PM. When Saturday finally opened its doors, Saki dropped Riko off at the address Anzu gave her: 14 Palmier Avenue. From what Anzu told her, her house is big, yellow and green. It was very easy to spot. Anzu's house is huge, much bigger than all of the other houses on the entire street. It looked very much like a fancy house that rich people own. It's not as big as fancy as the houses on the house hunting shows her mother watches, but for a small neighborhood like this, it's pretty big. The house has a beige roof and lots of windows with dark, seaweed green shutters. The front door is red, but darker than her own front door. Soon, everyone else arrived, even Kyoya, and even they were frozen with awe at the sight of Anzu's huge house.

"Whoooaaa...your house is huge!" Riko exclaimed, awestruck.

Anzu blushed sheepishly. "It's not fancy or anything."

"Uh, yeah it is, Anzu. If this isn't fancy, I don't know what is," Kyoya said.

"Is your humble abode a mansion or a palace?" Starbeam asked.

"Meh. I've seen bigger, better, prettier ones," Lovebeam piped in with her arms crossed.

"Hey! You don't have to be so rude!" Sunbeam scolded.

"Hmph! I can say whatever I want!" Lovebeam argued.

"No you can't!" Sunbeam argued back.

"Calm down, you two," Hotaru pulled the two bickering fairy sisters apart and kept them at a safe distance from each other. Anzu invited them inside and the kids rolled right in. It helped that the porch is flat and doesn't have any stairs so Kyoya can roll right in without difficulty.

"Anyone want to play Jenga? I brought my box with me," Riko asked while pulling out her portable Jenga box.

Lovebeam scoffed. "Jenga's so boring! I can't believe you play something like that!" She exclaimed petulantly.

"Jenga's fun!" Marina protested. Lovebeam kept rambling on, but they ignored her and played anyway. They played the towering game of blocks for about an hour straight, laughing at whenever the tower of blocks would crumble under its own weight whenever there'd be too many blocks on it. The game stopped when Riko noticed something.

"Uhh...An-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are your parents home?"

"No," Anzu replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

For Riko, however, this was definitely not the most normal thing in the world. In fact, the answer made her stand up in alarm. "What?! They're not?!" Riko was about to fly out the door until Marina stopped in front of her.

"What's your problem?!" Marina yelped angrily. "You should be happy she invited us here!"

"It's not that!" Riko argued. "My mom says people are not allowed to invite friends over when their parents aren't home! It's a rule! And we're breaking it!"

Marina rolled her eyes. "Get over it. It's not like we're gonna rob the place or anything."

"You're not helping, Marina," Moonbeam told her, not liking her answer.

"NO! Do NOT tell me to get over it! We're breaking a rule!" Riko shouted louder this time. She was about to do some more until Anzu calmly placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Calm down, Riko," Anzu told her gently. "My dad's at a get together, and he said I'm allowed to have friends over so long as we not have any wild parties and that we clean up after ourselves. He trusts me enough to let me stay in the house by myself, so it's okay."

Riko finally calmed down this time. "Sorry," Riko mused.

"You're such a baby to freak out over something as stupid as that," Lovebeam sneered before Sunbeam suddenly slapped one of her ears. "Ow!"

"You really need to stop saying stuff that hurts people's feelings!" Sunbeam scolded.

"I'm just telling it like it is!"

"It's just the way she is! There's no need to make such a big deal out of it!"

"Now now, girls. Please, don't fight. We're here to have fun," Moonbeam told them gently as she scooched in between them.

Thankfully, this gave Sunbeam an idea. "Oh! I know! An-chan, would it be okay if I used your kitchen for an eensy weensy moment?" Sunbeam asked Anzu sweetly.

"Sure. Just make sure not to make a big mess. But what for?" Anzu gave her permission, but felt a little flummoxed by the orange fairy's sudden question.

"I thought this might be a great time for me to demonstrate my cooking by making a big lunch for you all! Don't worry, I'll try not to make a big mess. I haven't been able to cook since I've come here, so I really want to right now," Sunbeam replied.

"You cook?" Kyoya asked.

Sunbeam nodded.

"This sounds interesting. What do you cook?" Hotaru asked, interested in Sunbeam's fiat.

"Lots of things! Mostly Rozanielan recipes, though. But if you have any simple recipes around, I think I might be able to get it just right," Sunbeam said.

"Wait here," Anzu said as she ran into the kitchen, opened a drawer, and pulled out a little book before handing it to Sunbeam. "This is my dad's cookbook. There's lots of recipes here if you want to try them out."

"Hooray! Thank you, An-chan!" Sunbeam flitted to Anzu and nuzzled her before skimming through the cookbook, looking for an easy recipe to put together for everyone. It didn't take long for one to catch her attention. "Ohh! This sounds like a good one! Do you have any spaghetti noodles and cans of meat sauce around?"

"Yep. They're in the cupboard up there," Anzu pointed to some cupboards in the kitchen. "The pots and pans are inside the oven so be sure to pull them out before you do anything."

"I'll do it," Hotaru said as she opened the oven and pulled out all of the pots and pans from within there. She then gently placed them in the dining room.

Sunbeam already felt at home in Anzu's kitchen, but Lovebeam crossed her little arms and scoffed. "I don't want to eat anything! I'm not hungry!" She pouted.

"It's just lunch," Starbeam told her. "And we'd all really appreciate it if you were a tad more grateful for the fact that we get to eat anything at all, and the fact that Anzu-san here has invited us to her humble abode for fun and pleasant times."

"I've been here lots of times before, so I don't need to be grateful!" Lovebeam snapped.

"Hey, Kyo-chan? Want to battle Pokemon with me?" Riko asked, pulling out her Nintendo DS.

"Oh, it's on!" Kyoya replied, accepting her challenge as he pulled out his own Nintendo DS.

As Riko and Kyoya played their games, Marina, Moonbeam, and Starbeam watched TV in the living room while Hotaru pulled out a book she brought with her: _Inspector Imanishi Investigates_(1). Anzu and Lovebeam hung out on the kitchen to watch Sunbeam cook, and they're both surprised at the fact that she's pulling it off quite well. She put hot water in one of the pans, put it on the oven, turned one of the dials, and watched the water bubble after pouring in the spaghetti noodles. Both Anzu and Lovebeam watched intently as Sunbeam hummed while she cooked, pulling out carrots and carefully cutting them into pieces with the cooking knife without a cinch. Sunbeam seemed to glow with a radiant light whenever she flitted around the kitchen, smiling and mixing some cookie dough with some chocolate chips she found. She then placed the cookies on the cookie sheet, gently slid it on the oven, closed it, and set it to thirty minutes.

'_For a fairy, she sure is good. Not only that...she looks so happy...so alive...'_ Anzu thought, a little awestruck by Sunbeam's cooking prowess, but it made her happy to see Sunbeam radiant with happiness, especially considering everything that happened to her before and after she and her sisters came to Earth. Just watching Sunbeam happily flit around the kitchen doing whatever she wanted convinced Anzu that this is what makes her happy. Kind of like how she feels soothed by watching horror movies, oddly enough, cooking must be soothing to Sunbeam, bringing out her best. Sunbeam flitted around the cupboards to find cans of meat sauce, but oddly enough, she came up empty.

"An-chan? Do you know where the meat sauce is?" Sunbeam asked.

"There isn't any? Huh. I know Dad bought some last week," Anzu said as she looked into another one of the cupboards. Sunbeam's right. There aren't any cans of meat sauce around. Not in the top cupboards, not in the bottom cupboards, nowhere in the kitchen. "Maybe he stored some in the basement. I'll go check," Anzu said as she ran down some stairs into a basement.

Lovebeam, on impulse, began looking through the cupboards. She rummaged through some cans to find a small red bottle without any label on it, just some white, ripped up label fragments with nothing on them. She grabbed it and handed it to Sunbeam. "Here's some."

"Thanks, Lovebeam!" Sunbeam said cheerfully as she gratefully took the bottle.

Lovebeam found herself aglow with happiness, with a big, goofy smile painting her chubby pink face. _'Sunbeam finally said thank you to me! She finally appreciates what I did for her! Yay!'_ Lovebeam spun around in the air and returned to the living room with a light heart. But Marina happened to look through some DVDs with a very flummoxed look on her face.

"Jeez. Does Anzu watch anything _besides_ horror movies? Look! Sweeney Todd, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Halloween, Scary Movie, Audition, Ichi The Killer, Thirteen Ghosts, The Ring, The Exorcist, Carrie, Eraserhead, good God! There's nothing but horror movies in here!" Marina yelped, flabbergasted by the huge amount of horror movies Anzu has piled in her DVD shelf next to the big flat screen TV. One DVD she held in her hand features a man with a very frizzy, electric hair cut with a flummoxed look on his face in grayscale. However, Marina failed to notice various Doctor Who DVDs, DVDs like The Avengers, Game of Thrones, Spiderman, Batman The Animated Series, The 1939 Hunchback of Notre Dame movie, Phantom of the Opera, etc.

"I don't mind a horror movie once in a while. However, in regards to films, Rozaniela is very strict with looking over the content of a film and making sure nobody shows inappropriate films to people outside of the film's intended demographic," Starbeam explained. "In fact, we have laws that prohibit giving children access to movies beyond their age. If someone who has children purchases a movie that they themselves want to watch-the adults, I mean-parents are expected to keep movies that may be inappropriate for children locked away so tightly and so securely that no child can have any form of access to them, even if they devise methods to undo the locks, to the point where children aren't cognizant of the fact that the DVDs exist in their household."

"Isn't that going a little overboard?" Kyoya asked.

"I personally agree, but these measures are taken so children can be prepared to stomach content like that once they're old enough, even though films are merely fictional pieces," Starbeam elaborated further. "Oh, but it's not like the Queen and King and the other citizens are trying to lie to the children or claim that things like sadness and suffering don't exist. In fact, we read lots of stories or show movies to them that have somber and melancholy moments. We definitely don't try to insult their intelligence or make them believe the world is all fun and rainbows. No place is ever truly peaceful or without flaws."

"I like your logic," Riko piped in.

"Hmph! It's just like Starbeam to talk talk talk about stupid, boring mumbo gumbo!" Lovebeam complained upon re-entering the living room.

After a while, the cookies and spaghetti were finally ready to be consumed. But Sunbeam didn't put anything on the spaghetti right off, as she wanted to ask what everyone wanted on it before putting anything on. Riko requested meatballs, and Anzu promptly gave her some. Sunbeam cooked some up in advance while waiting for the cookies to bake. But when Hotaru requested just meat sauce, Sunbeam took the red bottle Lovebeam gave her and was about to pour it on the yellow, limp noodles until Marina suddenly stood up in alarm.

"Wait!" Marina yelped, causing everyone to freeze with surprise.

"What's wrong?" Moonbeam asked.

"That doesn't look like meat sauce to me," Marina said as she walked over to Sunbeam. "Do you mind if I borrowed that real quick?"

"Uhh...sure," Sunbeam told her as she handed her the bottle, albeit still very flummoxed. Marina took the bottle in her hand and examined it with her piercing golden eyes. She then opened it, placed a very tiny drop of the red contents on the very tip of her index finger, and sucked on it. As soon as the red substance dropped on her tongue, it felt like it was set on fire. Marina jumped around, her face contorting with pain as she put the bottle down, grabbed a plastic cup, put water in it, and scarfed it down. Thankfully, the torrents of water washed away the scorching burning sensation.

"Man, I like hot sauce and all, but that's just too hot for me!" Marina exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Moonbeam asked.

"This isn't meat sauce. It's hot sauce. Meat sauce isn't kept in bottles shaped like this. They're mostly in jars or aluminum cans," Marina explained.

"ACK!" Lovebeam yelped this time, her hands flying to her face with horror. "That was hot sauce?!"

"Yeah. There's no label on it," Marina explained as she showed them the bottle.

Sunbeam's chubby orange face suddenly turned beet red like she was about to explode into a shower of hot sauce. She flew toward Lovebeam-probably to hit her-but Hotaru pulled her out of the way just in time. It didn't simmer the orange fairy's anger, however. Instead, it made her even more choleric, confirmed by the fact that her blue eyes are bloodshot. "You stupid idiot! You almost made me kill everybody!" Sunbeam screamed angrily, causing Riko to cover her ears.

"Hey! Keep it down!" Anzu snapped.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! You always ruin everything, you selfish, spoiled brat! You probably gave me hot sauce on purpose so you could make me look bad and you look good!" Sunbeam yelled, not even bothering to listen.

"I didn't know it was hot sauce! Really, and I was NOT trying to ruin everything! Mari-chan just said there's no label on it!" Lovebeam yelled back, feeling her heart be ripped to pieces by Sunbeam's venomous, dagger sharp, insinuating words.

"Knock it off, you two!" Hotaru exclaimed as she got in between the two fairies. "Sunbeam. I understand you're angry, but I'm sure Lovebeam meant no harm. Like Marina said, there's no label on the bottle, so anyone could have mistaken it for something else. Calling her names and accusing her of being heartless isn't nice," Hotaru told her calmly but sternly.

Sunbeam wasn't buying it. "Stop sticking up for her! You don't know her like I do! She always wants attention, doesn't care one bit about the feelings of other people, and never takes responsibility for anything she does wrong!"

"Yes I do!" Lovebeam argued in regards to that last statement. "I just said I'm sorry!"

"That's not gonna cut it, you spoiled brat! You're lucky Mari-chan noticed in time!" Sunbeam argued again. The ferocious, choleric look on her face told the frightened, pink fairy that Sunbeam is in no mood to accept her apology.

"I found the real meat sauce!" Moonbeam exclaimed, holding a can of meat sauce that's about her size.

Hotaru smiled and looked at the two fairies with a kind gaze. "See? Nobody was hurt, so let's put this issue to rest and have a nice lunch."

Sunbeam scoffed but she sat down and ate lunch anyway. Lovebeam didn't scoff, as an expression full of sadness and regret washed over her face, stealing her appetite like a thief. But she ate Sunbeam's spaghetti and cookies anyway. She had to admit, they're quite warm and delicious.

"Wow, Sunbeam! These cookies are deeee-lish! Meow!" Riko mused happily.

"Thanks. Glad you like them," Sunbeam told her grimly as she ate a wad of spaghetti.

"Hey, Anzu. I notice you have a buttload of horror movies in your shelf. Are those all you ever watch?" Marina asked.

Anzu sweatdropped. "Sorta. Guilty as charged. I'm a sucker for horror movies."

"Do they scare you?" Hotaru asked.

"Nope! I'm not scared of them, and I never puked when I saw any of them!" Anzu edicted proudly.

"I saw a snippet of The Exorcist once on TV, and I was so scared I slept with the lights on for the whole month! It gave me nightmares!" Marina proclaimed.

"You look like you're not afraid of anything," Riko piped in.

"Man, this stuff is great!" Kyoya exclaimed cheerfully as he ate a roll of spaghetti on his fork.

After they finished the rest of the wonderful lunch Sunbeam made, they went about doing other things, like watching anime, playing Jenga, playing air hockey in Anzu's basement, and watching funny videos on YouTube (nothing sexual or violent). Later on, Marina had to go home because her mother called. Hotaru and Kyoya left as well, leaving Anzu, Riko, and Lovebeam alone in the house. Later, Anzu's father called with some bad news. His car broke down and can't get home until much later, but he said he managed to call someone to help him out. When Saki came to pick Riko up, she noticed her father's absence. "Where's your father, Anzu-chan?"

"He called me and said the car broke down. He got help, but he said he won't be back for a while," Anzu explained.

"I see. In that case, would you like to come to our house for dinner?" Saki asked politely.

Riko and Anzu looked at each other with twin shocked expressions. Then Anzu turned back to Saki. "Is that okay? I mean, I don't want to intrude…"

"It's almost five o'clock, and I don't think your father would want you to go without dinner," Saki reasoned.

"I see," Anzu had to admit, Saki had a good point. Her father said his car broke down, and God only knows how long it'll take for him to come home, wherever he is. "Thanks. I'd love to come. But can I call my dad first and let him know?"

"Sure. We'll wait here," Saki said before Anzu bolted into the house to get the phone and call her father. When she dialed the number, it rang three times until she heard her father's voice.

"_Anzu? Is that you?"_ A male voice asked.

"Hi, Dad. It's me again. I just wanted to let you know, one of my friends invited me to their house for dinner, and I was wondering if I could go," Anzu told him.

"_Really? That's wonderful, honey! Of course you can go. I don't know how long this'll take, and I don't want you to go without dinner, so go and enjoy yourself. I'm only sorry this whole mess happened and I can't be there right now. Gosh, it's days like this I wish I could teleport,"_ Anzu's father exclaimed happily.

"That's okay. Stuff just happens and we can't control it. I get it. Thanks. I'll be sure to get home before it's dark. Okay?"

"_Keep your house key with you, and leave some lights on in the house. Oh, and keep your cell phone with you! I'll call you when I get a ride home, okay?"_

"Okay. Bye, Dad."

"_Bye, sweetie. Have fun!"_

With that, Anzu hung up the house phone, grabbed her brand new cell phone, Nintendo DS, some games, and her house key, turned some lights on in the house, and went to Riko's house.

"When did you get a cell phone?" Lovebeam whispered.

"Yesterday. Dad got it for me while I was at school. I can give you my number if you want," Anzu explained.

"Sure! I have paper at home so you can write it down when we get there," Riko said.

When they arrived, the first thing Riko did was grab a piece of paper and a pen for Anzu to write down her new cell phone number on. Since Saki went into the den to watch some more shows about buying houses, Hikage is upstairs doing homework, and Rina is in her room playing Barbies, Lovebeam found it okay to go into the kitchen.

"Hey, An-chan! Let's battle our Pokemon!" Riko suggested.

"Oh, it's on!" Anzu said as she and Riko bolted up the stairs to Riko's room, completely forgetting that Lovebeam is in the refrigerator eating a piece of chocolate cake. She scarfed the whole thing down, and as a result, she has chocolate smudges all around her little mouth.

"Chocolate cake may be fattening and not good for my complexion, but it sure is good!" Lovebeam mused to herself as she got a napkin to wipe the chocolate off her face. She then threw the foamy box it came in in the trash, along with the chocolate covered napkin, and followed Anzu and Riko to the latter's bedroom. Just in time, too, as once she got in there, Rina trotted out of the room with a Barbie.

"Mom says I can't eat it until after dinner, but I want that cake now!" Rina mused to herself mischievously as she trotted down the stairs, hoping to eat that oh so delicious slice of rich chocolate cake. With a smile and a heart full of anticipation and wanting, she opened the big refrigerator door to see if the foamy box with the cake in it is still in there...however, her smile faded when she found that it isn't. But her split second sorrow then turned to anger when she pulled out the trash can to find the foamy box in there instead! Empty with nothing but chocolate smudges on the bottom.

With a face glowing red with anger, she stomped to the one place where she thought the culprit was hiding.

"RIKOOOOO!"

"Yeep!" The yelling was so sudden that Riko dropped her Nintendo DS, causing it to fall on her legs. Without knocking, Rina barged into the room and stomped over to the frightened Riko. "Was that you yelling just now?"

"Admit it, you pig! You ate that chocolate cake, didn't you?!" Rina yelled. Lovebeam went into stuffed animal mode.

"Isn't it still in the refrigerator?" Riko asked, confused.

"NO! It's gone! And YOU ate it! I know it!" Rina yelled.

"No I didn't! I just got here!"

"Yes you did! Stop lying, you piggy!"

"I'm not lying, and stop calling me a pig!"

"Yes you are! You're so rude and inconsiderate!"

"I didn't even eat it!"

"Yes you did! Now I can't have any and it's all your fault, you fat piggy!"

"Hey! It's rude to call your sister names!" Anzu said.

"MOOOOM! Riko ate the last piece of cake before dinneeeeeer!" Rina ran out of the room and yelled for Saki. Riko facepalmed.

"What's her problem?" Anzu asked.

"That was her chocolate cake?" Lovebeam asked.

Riko and Anzu turned to the lop eared fairy. "Wait. How do you know about it?" Riko asked.

"Because I ate it just now," Lovebeam confessed like she was having a normal conversation with someone.

"WHAAAT?!" Riko yelped. "Why?! I was gonna eat it after dinner!"

"I just wanted to!" Lovebeam said.

"You can't just go through someone's fridge and eat their food! If you wanted some, you could have just asked first!" Riko scolded, her own face turning beet red with a touch of anger, not to the extent of Rina's, though.

"But you would have said no!" Lovebeam protested.

"Shh! They're coming!" Anzu hushed, which made Lovebeam hide under Riko's bed. Rina stomped back into Riko's bedroom with Saki with her.

"Riko ate the chocolate cake before dinner! She's rude and inconsiderate!" Rina yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, causing Riko to cover her ears, unabashedly pointing at her like she's accusing her of robbing a bank.

"Rina. Calm down. It's just food. There's no need to make a big scene about it," Saki told her calmly, but Rina wouldn't listen.

"But I wanted that cake and she ate it!" Rina stamped her feet to emphasize how angry she is.

"I didn't eat it, I swear!" Riko protested.

"But you're the only one who really likes chocolate cake, and Hikage's been in his room all day. I don't mind if you did, but it's good to share it with others," Saki told her.

"I told you, I didn't eat it!" Riko protested again.

"Liar liar pants on fire!" Rina yelled.

Anzu stood up. "I ate it."

"No you didn't!" Rina exclaimed. Lovebeam watched from underneath the bed, with awe making her purple eyes twinkle.

"Yes I did. Riko asked me if I wanted some, and I said yes, so I ate it. I'm sorry," Anzu told them before giving an apologetic bow. Lovebeam couldn't believe what Anzu was doing for her sake. She hid her face in her long, fluffy ears.

Saki smiled. "Okay then. That was nice of you, Riko. That settles it-"

"Nuh-uh! Riko ate it! She's a big fat piggy who's always eating everyone else's food when she shouldn't, and that's rude!" Rina yelled, not believing Anzu's lie. Riko facepalmed. She knew Rina wouldn't believe something like that, even though she knows for a fact that her little sister is the most gullible person on earth if what her teachers are saying are true.

"Rina. Enough. It's just food, and stop calling Riko names or you won't get to play Barbies for the rest of the night. Understand me?" Saki told her sternly, not pleased with her stubborn attitude. Rina pouted, crossed her arms, and stomped out of the room like a brat.

"I wanted that cake!" Rina shouted before slamming the door to her bedroom. Saki left the room to start dinner, which allowed Anzu and Riko to exhale sighs of relief. Lovebeam creeped out from underneath the bed looking remorseful as she kneaded one of her ears into a roll.

"I'm sorry. It looked delicious," Lovebeam murmured sadly.

"It's okay. Just ask if you want something, okay?" Riko told her.

"But people always say no when I ask for stuff!" Lovebeam said.

"An-chan? Why'd you lie to Mom? You didn't have to do that," Riko asked.

"Uh, yeah I did. I wasn't gonna sit there and let your brat of a sister accuse you of something you didn't do. Besides, Lovebeam would have gotten it the worst if they found out she did it," Anzu explained.

"Thank you for doing that," Lovebeam told her shyly. However, as soon as she said that, her long ears suddenly stood straight up in alarm, facing the ceiling. "Oh no! I sense a Corrupt Sentinel nearby!"

Riko groaned. "Seriously?! Can't we catch a break?!"

"Good thing I brought my Heart Lighter," Anzu said.

"But Mom and Oniichan are here. What do we do about them?" Riko asked.

"We're gonna have to take a chance on this one," Anzu said as she pulled out her Heart Lighter.

* * *

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!" On a part of town not too far away from Riko's house, Cure Dusk fired a flaming arrow at a very large black badger, which knocked the flaming arrow away like it was trash. With a yell, Cure Dusk tried to land a kick on it, only for the badger to knock her against a tree with its nose. Moonbeam, Sunbeam, and Starbeam shot beams of light at the badger, but it knocked them away with its nose as well. Using the wings on her shoes, Cure Dusk regained her equanimity and landed a hard punch on the badger.

However, while Cure Dusk is occupied with the giant black badger, Cure Starlight and Decebal are fighting with their respective weapons; Decebal wielding his rapier, Hotaru her naginata. They tried to slash at each other, but they just kept on either evading or blocking each other's attacks. It didn't help that Decebal found an opening and knocked Cure Starlight's naginata out of her hand, causing it to roll on the sidewalk. But that didn't stop her, as she decided to try and land some punches and kicks on the classy yet chauvinistic green haired man. Unfortunately, he kept either evading or grabbing her fists and feet. At one point, he grabbed her arm and threw her over his back, causing her to fall flat on her face. She heard a crack. She pulled herself up to rub some gravel off her nose only to find a warm liquid streaming down her nose. Shiny red spots of blood appeared on her fingers.

"That's what you get for being a naughty little girl," Decebal told her condescendingly. "It's such a shame that beautiful face of yours had to be ruined like that, but it is your own fault for not knowing your place!"

"You're one to talk!" Cure Starlight sneered as she hopped back to her feet, wiped the blood off her face with her arm, and attempted to land a few more punches on him, only for him to do some swift backflips to dodge them and then use the back of his rapier to knock one of Cure Starlight's shoes right off her left foot.

"Starlight!" Moonbeam flew over to the blue Pretty Cure with concern in her silver eyes.

"I'm not giving up just yet! Dusk Medley!" Cure Dusk fumed as she fired a barrage of blazing musical notes at the badger, who just knocked them away like they were flies. One of the fiery musical notes hit the brick wall of a house, leaving a charred mark on it. Another one fell on a pot of flowers, knocking it over and spilling some dirt and pansies, bereaving them of their beautiful, fragile foliage.

"Careful, Dusk!" Sunbeam exclaimed before getting swatted against a tree by the big black badger. "Ow!"

"Sunbeam!" Starbeam flew behind Sunbeam and managed to catch her before she could hit the nearest tree. "You have not sustained any fatal injuries, have you?"

"No, I'm good," Sunbeam told her.

Decebal pointed her rapier at Cure Starlight, who glared at him, unafraid and unwilling to concede defeat. Even without her left shoe, she got back on her feet while Moonbeam stayed in between her and the shiny, pointy rapier. Despite trembling and feeling like wanting to run away, she stayed in mid-air, frozen, unwilling to let the green haired man hurt her friend.

"Out of my way, you pest!" Decebal demanded.

"No! We want answers and we want them now! Why did you let Zenjin have the Energia?! You realize undoing the security systems is an extremely perilous crime, don't you?!" Moonbeam demanded with just as much gusto.

"Do I look like I care about what those hypocrites Ghislain and Malgorzata think?! They can go to Hades for all I care!" Decebal bellowed as he tried to slash the little purple bunny, but Hotaru grabbed his rapier and threw it to another part of the street.

"Starlight Shower!" Cure Starlight made a rain of stars fall on both Decebal and the badger. But Decebal grabbed his rapier and used it to knock away some of her blue stars. Not only that, the badger seemed unaffected.

"Just give up and go back to your husband," Decebal said.

"Stop that sexist talk, you fiend!" The booming voice of Cure Dawn echoed, drawing everyone's attention to two girls leaping off the roof of a house and descending onto the street. Out came Cures Dawn and Twilight, with Lovebeam at their side. Cure Dawn drew out her nunchucks and Cure Twilight unsheathed her silver cat claws.

"Sorry we're late, girls!" Cure Twilight exclaimed as she slashed the badger's fur with her claws as it tried to grab Cure Dusk with its hands.

"Took you long enough!" Cure Dusk complained.

Cure Dawn wasted no time with an attack. "Golden Dawn Explosion!" The blast was so powerful that it managed to completely consume the badger and char its already black fur. It tried to get back up, but it collapsed onto the ground. This provided a great opportunity for the Pretty Cure and the fairies to form their usual circle.

"Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!"

With that, the badger disappeared, leaving behind a brown colored orb. "I'll get that!" Kyoya wheeled toward the orb, picked it up, wheeled to the unconscious man lying in some bushes, and dropped the orb into his Soul Portal. But before they could rejoice in their victory, a black and purple ball of light suddenly shot at them, sending the girls and fairies in different directions. Kyoya was not within the energy blast's range, so he managed to not get sent flying. When the dust cloud cleared, a huge pot hole dotted the street, along with the crazy, silver haired person responsible for the energy blast just now.

"Hey, Decebal! These Pretty Cure trash messing with you again?"

Dusk rolled her eyes as she popped out of the leafy tree. "Oh great! Zenjin's back!"

Zenjin stood next to Decebal, in his usual black attire. "Good job in ambushing them like that. I take it you've come to gather information with me?"

"Yeah, plus I'm bored out of my mi-" Zenjin was bereaved of the opportunity to finish that sentence because a tiny, blurry, pink tornado suddenly flew right out of nowhere and socked Zenjin in the face so hard he slipped and fell on his rear end. "OWW!" It didn't even stop there, as floppy ears kept hitting him and slapping him in the face. With a choleric glint in his eyes, he grabbed the pink tornado by the ears, which turned out to be a very choleric Lovebeam, who stared daggers at him with her purple eyes.

"That's what you get for hurting my little sister, you bully!" Lovebeam yelled as she shot a beam of light at his face, freeing her from his grasp.

"Lovebeam! What the freak are you doing?!" Cure Dawn yelped as she tried to grab her, but Decebal shot a beam of light at her, knocking her onto the street.

"Dawn!" Cure Twilight, Sunbeam, and Moonbeam ran to the yellow cure's aid. Cure Dawn found a bloody scab on her elbow, along with some gravel sticking to it.

Zenjin covered his face with one of his hands, his anger growing exponentially. "That is the LAST time you tarnish my beautiful face, you pink saccharine TRASH!" Zenjin screamed hysterically as he shot another beam of light at Lovebeam, who evaded it and proceeded to bite his arm, the part that wasn't covered by his black sleeves. Her teeth dug into his skin, and Zenjin yelled and flailed his arm around in an attempt to throw her off.

"GET OFF ME YOU TRASH!" Zenjin yelled as he flung Lovebeam around to throw her off, but to no avail.

"Twilight Serenade!" Finding an opening, Cure Twilight shot an attack at both Zenjin and Decebal. In his anger, Zenjin threw up a barrier, negating the purple cure's attack. Once it dissipated, Cure Starlight grabbed Lovebeam and pried her off of Zenjin's now marked arm before he could do anything to her. This gave Cure Dusk an opportunity to try a Dusk Medley on them, but Decebal got his rapier and knocked them all away.

"Lovebeam. Are you alright?" Cure Starlight asked as Lovebeam flew out of her arms irritably.

"Why'd you do that?! I wanted to kick his butt!" Lovebeam whined angrily.

"Because you almost got yourself killed! You need to think a little! You can't be so reckless all the time!" Sunbeam scolded. She wanted to do some more until Zenjin shot a beam of light at her. The girls then noticed that Decebal is flying right toward Lovebeam with an outstretched hand. Lovebeam found herself frozen in the air, unable to move. But before Decebal could grab her, a light blue blur suddenly appeared in front of her, allowing itself to be caught in Decebal's grasp.

A light blue blur with a green ribbon.

"STARBEAM!" Kyoya screamed as he wheeled onto the scene.

"Why do you interfere, you puffball?" Decebal asked as he squeezed the now helpless Starbeam in his hands.

"I won't let you...lay a hand...on my sisters…" Starbeam croaked weakly.

"LET HER GO!" Cure Twilight, Sunbeam, and Moonbeam all tried to launch combined attacked on Decebal in order to save the now captured Starbeam, but Zenjin shot another energy blast at them, making them all roll on the concrete in a puff of smoke. A wheelchair rolled into the cloud. Decebal found himself floating in the air, but not too far up, just about two feet.

"You may be worthless, but I don't see anything wrong with taking you with me-" Decebal said maliciously until he felt something heavy on him, like he was carrying extra weight. He tried to fly further, but he couldn't, as something was dragging him down. He looked down to find a red haired boy climbing on his Shakespearian garb, with courage blazing in his green eyes.

"KYO-CHAN NOOO!" Cure Twilight yelled.

"Give her back!" Kyoya tried to grab at Starbeam but Decebal stamped a hand on the boy's bespectacled face in an attempt to push him off. He even tried pushing his foot on the boy's stomach, but Kyoya kept clutching to his 17th century garb, trying desperately to grab Starbeam and release her from the green haired man's grasp.

"Get off of me! How did you even-?!"

"I won't let you take her!"

"Can we just leave?!" Zenjin suggested as Cure Dusk attempted a Dusk Medley on them again. But the silver haired boy punched all of the fiery musical notes back at her, knocking her out.

"Starlight Shower!"

"Twilight Sparkle!"

Unfortunately for Cures Starlight and Twilight, their attacks didn't hit them, as Zenjin and Decebal disappeared into thin air.

Taking Starbeam and Kyoya with them.

"NOOOOO!" Cure Twilight fell on her knees and screamed as she banged her fist on the concrete. She found herself trembling after beating the concrete five times. Soon, her eyes began to feel wet and become blurry. Cure Dusk kicked a nearby tree with a loud grunt.

"I can't believe it! They took Starbeam and Kyoya! And we were too weak to stop them!" Cure Dusk grunted irritably, balling her fists and then landing a punch on the tree she just kicked.

"Starbeam's gone! What do we do?!" Moonbeam wailed sadly. Despite being exhausted, Cure Dawn ambled up to the now bawling Cure Twilight, kneeled to her level, and put a gentle hand on her back.

"It'll be okay. We'll get them back," Cure Dawn told her gently and softly, hoping to reassure her. Unfortunately, her attempt to pacify Riko didn't work.

"What if something terrible happens to them?! Zenjin can do anything with the Energia! What if he kills them?! Or eats them?! Or erases them or the world from existence?! If anything happens to them it'll be our fault!" Cure Twilight wailed hysterically, beginning to hit her head with her fists. Cure Dawn grabbed her before she could do any more.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!" Cure Dawn exclaimed. Sunbeam had the same idea as Marina, as she suddenly began throwing rocks around, making sure to avoid hitting people.

"Dawn is right. We need to calm down and tell Queen Malgorzata about this. Perhaps she can help us in this endeavor," Cure Starlight told them calmly as she wiped her now broken nose of any remaining blood.

Unbeknownst to them, Lovebeam is sitting on the concrete, her lavender eyes wide with horror, frozen with the image of what happened just now. Lovebeam felt Zenjin deserved to get some payback for hurting Sunbeam the way he did, but she got reckless, and as a result, Starbeam is kidnapped. Lovebeam covered her face with her long, floppy ears, wishing this was all a dream, an illusion, a terrible prank that her sisters are putting on to get back at her for all that she'd done to them with her bratty and selfish ways. Lovebeam couldn't accept this reality. The fact that her home was destroyed is hard enough to face. Lovebeam shook herself violently, wishing this whole thing was a farce. But even she knew this isn't a farce. It's real. Very real.


	18. Lovebeam To The Rescue!

Chapter 18: Lovebeam to the Rescue! She isn't so bratty after all!

Starbeam was the first to wake up. The floor beneath her felt rather cold and dirty, like it had been collecting dust for decades. Lots of dust particles floated in the air, made real by the sunbeams penetrating some of the broken glass windows. Starbeam rubbed her weary green eyes and found that she and Kyoya-who is next to her, still unconscious-are in what appears to be the interior of a warehouse. The wall behind them mostly consisted of windows, most of which are either broken with some glass shards lying around, or covered with graffiti. Some of the support beams had graffiti on them, along with other walls. Brown and black rusty pipes traveled around the ceiling, no longer in use. With worry stirring in her heart, Starbeam turned around and shook Kyoya's back with her tiny little hands.

"Kyo-chan! Please! You must wake! Kyo-chan!" Starbeam pleaded as she shook his back. Thankfully for the worried blue fairy, Kyoya stirred a little, resulting in his green eyes finally peeling open. His glasses are still on his face, but his wheelchair is no longer in sight. When Kyoya opened his eyes, he saw a blue blur which didn't look familiar at first, until his eyesight began to become clearer. He felt his head pulsate as he sat himself up.

"Starbeam?" Kyoya murmured wearily as he rubbed his eyes. "What the…" When Kyoya finally took in his surroundings, he froze upon relieving the last thing he remembered: grabbing Decebal, trying to save Starbeam, getting teleported, and feeling some kind of blow to the back of his neck, knocking him out. "Starbeam! You okay?!"

"I haven't sustained any physical injuries, and neither have you, so it seems we are both physically fine for now. But the question is...where are we now?" Starbeam told him worriedly, clinging to his sleeve like a scared child not wanting to be away from it's parents. Images of her sisters and the Pretty Cure flashed through her mind. "My sisters must be killing themselves with incessant worry."

Kyoya looked out one of the windows behind him. All he saw was some cars going back and forth, along with some people who looked small, like ants, which told Kyoya that wherever they are, they're really high up. It doesn't help that it's really noisy down there, so even if they could call for help, their cries would be drowned out by the noises of the bustling crowds down below and the cars going back and forth. But seeing these cars and people did tell him one thing. "We might still be on Earth."

"Yes, that's true," A voice told them from behind. With defensive stances, Kyoya and Starbeam turned around to find Decebal in front of them, accompanied by Beileag and Zenjin. Kyoya grabbed Starbeam and clutched her like he was a parent trying to protect his child, giving the trio of Rozanielans an icy, courageous stare.

"What do you want with us?!" Kyoya snapped.

"For what purpose did you kidnap Kyo-chan and I? I demand you tell us right this instant!" Starbeam edicted boldly. Although she yelled like a brave person, her insides are either trembling violently or doing backflips. But instead of answering right off, Beileag crept closer and examined Kyoya with her star shaped glasses, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Wooow! You're right, Zen-chan! This kid DOES look a lot like you before you dyed your hair and eyes! Only this kid's hair is much lighter and his eyes are green. But I have to admit, you sure are handsome!" Beileag squealed cheerfully like a happy little girl. Kyoya really didn't like how close she is in his personal space, but he and Starbeam kept giving them angry stares.

Zenjin facepalmed and Decebal sighed before telling her, "Focus, Beileag. You're not here to hit on him. You'll get arrested."

"Boo! I wasn't hitting on him!" Beileag complained before crossing her arms. "There's a difference between admiring someone's physical beauty and hitting on someone! And stop calling me Beileag!"

"Can't we blow him up? I want to see his blood and organs fly all over the place!" Zenjin sneered as he made a small ball of energy appear in his hand.

"That's being a bit hasty, don't you think?" Decebal said as he made the ball of energy disappear with a snap of his fingers.

"Awww, come on! I wanna do away with this worthless piece of trash!" Zenjin yelled. "It's more fun that way!"

"If you ever lay a hand on him, you have to deal with me!" Starbeam hissed angrily, appalled by Zenjin's complete lack of restraint and inhibitions. Even Kyoya couldn't help but be appalled at the fact that Zenjin finds killing people to be fun, treating it like it's a game without regard for human life. Granted, Kyoya never did see what he had done, but considering all the damage he did on Rozaniela that he did see and the fact that he has a jewel that can do the impossible, he's probably capable of doing much worse things than decimating a planet.

"Zenjin. Go and gather information. You needn't stray from your objective," Decebal told him in a whisper.

"Uuuuugh! Fine," Zenjin groaned as he teleported away and began flying to wherever it is he planned to go.

"What do you mean by gathering information?" Kyoya asked, keeping his fierce eyes fixated on them.

"It's rude to stick your nose in business where it doesn't belong. It's why you wound up here in the first place," Decebal told him coldly.

"Cut the garbage! Why are you and your lackeys terrorizing our town and turning people's souls into giant animals?! What did we ever do to you that was so bad?!" Kyoya yelled angrily, the fierce glint in his eyes blazing.

"You know as well as we do that even if we do tell you, you'll tell the Pretty Cure about it and they'll be able to thwart our plans, and we can't let that happen, now can we?" Decebal told him condescendingly.

"Aren't they gonna try and thwart your plans anyway?"

"Shut up, you pitiful, crippled creature!" Decebal yelled as he pointed his rapier at the boy, but this only exacerbated his anger.

"You're the ones who are pitiful!" Kyoya snapped, completely ignoring the rapier pointing at his neck.

All of a sudden, Starbeam threw herself right at Decebal's face, knocking him to the floor, causing his rapier to slip out of his hands and clatter on the floor. Before he knew it, he himself became beet red with anger, even as he locked eyes with Starbeam, who floated in front of Kyoya, giving him a very fierce glare that told him that she was not going to let him hurt Kyoya. However, Decebal suddenly pointed his finger at the blue fairy. Kyoya gasped when he saw a flickering blue spark of lightning flash across the green haired man's gloved finger.

"Starbeam!" Kyoya screamed as he grabbed Starbeam and threw her across the room. Before he could do anything else, he suddenly felt huge jolts of electricity rushing all throughout his body, burning him on the inside, making him emit quite a vociferous, bloodcurdling scream. Starbeam's emerald eyes widened in horror as the boy became consumed by flashing electric blue lightning, screaming for his life, probably in excruciating pain.

"KYO-CHAN!" Starbeam wailed, horrified at the boy being electrically tortured by the green haired man. "STOP! PLEASE! WE BEG OF YOU!" Starbeam implored hysterically. Decebal put down his hand and the electricity faded, causing the red haired boy to fall on the ground in a crumpled heap. Starbeam ran to his aid, but she realized her first aid kit isn't with her. She cursed at herself for being unable to help him, unable to save him even though he technically saved her.

"That was a bit extreme, don't you think, Decebal? You could have killed him, and we could get arrested!" Beileag told him with a concerned voice.

"Don't worry. He won't die. I know when to hold back," Decebal hissed.

"You call that holding back?!" Starbeam howled angrily. "He's just a child! Why would you even do that to him?! He never did anything to you! What did Rozaniela ever do to you that warranted stealing the Energia and committing worldwide genocide?! I DEMAND AN ANSWER NOW!" Starbeam screamed in her highest voice possible.

"Why DID we steal the Energia anyway?" Beileag asked out of the blue. "You never did tell me why we're doing all of this in the first place."

At first, Decebal said nothing, which prompted Starbeam to continue with her tirade. "King Ghislain trusted you with his whole heart! You were his most trusted confidant! He was your best friend...and yet...you had to go and betray him, just like Zenjin hurt Sunbeam! Do you feel no remorse for your machinations?! Why would you betray the king like that?! Why did you help Zenjin destroy most of Rozaniela?!"

"You want to know why, you useless little teddy bear?" Decebal asked, putting his rapier back in its sheath. His cherry red eyes developed a scornful sheen to them. "Because I hate your planet's policies! Stealing people from Earth, brainwashing them into believing there is no suffering or sadness, coddling everyone with lies, and all this saccharine talk about kindness and happiness! This planet's sole existence makes me sick! The King and Queen are a bunch of fuzzy brained fools! They rule over their denizens by brainwashing them into thinking everything is all happy smiles and that everything will go well for them if they're good and naive and stupid! That is NOT the way a living thing should live!"

Starbeam couldn't believe what she was hearing. Decebal hates their planet because he thinks the King and Queen are trying to make it into some overly sweet and sugary happy land where there's absolutely zero hardship, suffering, or sadness? Where in the world did he get those crazy ideas? But he kept going. "It is only through hardship, suffering, and sadness that we know who we really are! Humans are at their best when faced with adversity, with sadness, everything! But you hypocrites obviously don't want to subject your poor little children to such traumatizing truths, now do you? So you brainwash them with all these lies about how they'll be happy on this diabetes-inducing planet where everything's all perfectly rosy and happy and everybody gets everything they want handed to them on a silver platter!"

"That's NOT true, and you know it!" Starbeam argued fiercely. "If we really wanted to hide the fact that suffering and sadness exist, then we wouldn't be encouraging them to read stories like Dog of Flanders or Anne of Green Gables! And our ancestors didn't create Rozaniela to brainwash people! They made it to be a safe haven for people who were miserable and suffering so we could help them heal! They wanted to give love and largess to the orphans they saved, because Earth never gave them any!"

"That's exactly what I mean, you twit!" Decebal yelled, pointing his rapier at her again. "That's the main problem! You steal them from their home and don't allow them to see for themselves what sadness and suffering is! You don't let them overcome it themselves! That's what makes a strong human being! We cannot live our lives without sadness or hardship. But you and all the others...you only care about planting seeds of lies in their heads and do everything humanly possible to shield them from every possible trace of sadness and suffering in favor of shoving saccharine everyone is happy beliefs in their heads because, _'Oh! We can't possibly show them anything with suffering in it! Their poor little souls will be traumatized for life! How scandalous!'_ You make me sick!"

Starbeam couldn't resist the urge to facepalm right as he began using a fake high pitched voice. _'Does Decebal truly believe all of these ridiculous and absurd ideas? Even I know none of that is even the tiniest mote true!'_ Starbeam thought.

"Is Rozaniela really that saccharine and overly protective, though?" Beileag asked, looking flummoxed. "Because when I was little, kids used to pick on me, and whenever they'd do something bad, they'd tell the teachers I did it and scapegoat me. Not only that, I read an Earth manga called _Shine The Light: Loving an Autistic Child_ and that made me cry! If they really wanted to hide all traces of sadness and suffering, they'd have banned stories like-YEEEK!" Beileag explained but screamed when Decebal smacked her across the face and sending her to the floor, knocking off her star shaped glasses.

"Keep your mouth shut! You don't have a right to question anything I say!" Decebal yelled.

"Hey! You, like, really didn't have to do that!" Beileag whined like a bratty teenager, even though she looks to be in her early to late twenties.

"She...has a point…"

Starbeam turned around, recognizing the voice. "Kyo-chan!" Despite having been electrocuted, Kyoya struggled to his feet and held onto one of the glass windows with one of his hands to keep him balanced. "I haven't...been to Rozaniela much...and I don't...know what they do…but the people and creatures...on there are nice…and kind and helpful...but you and Zenjin...killed everyone...just because of THAT?!" Kyoya hissed in a low voice at first, then screamed as loud as his voice could muster. "God, I've never seen stupider people in my life! You seriously think Starbeam's planet is all sugary and happy, and that's your justification for letting Zenjin massacre a bunch of innocent people?!"

"Yes," Decebal said bluntly.

Both Starbeam and Kyoya wished the Pretty Cure were here right now, not so much to be rescued, but so they can knock some sense into this green haired, Shakespearian dressed idiot.

* * *

"Oh! What happened to your elbow, An-chan?" Saki asked with worry as she noticed the scab on Anzu's elbow from the unsuccessful fight a few minutes earlier.

"Sorry. Riko and I were playing outside when I tripped and fell. No biggie. I can take care of it," Anzu told her sheepishly as she doused it in water and soap before putting on a big band-aid. They looked away, feeling horrible about lying to her like that, but they knew they had to. If Saki found out about the Pretty Cure-and the fact that Riko is one-she'd probably flip out like crazy. But their hearts are now a sea of whirlpools, with the happiness sucked right out of them like a vacuum cleaner. Starbeam and Kyoya are both kidnapped, and they have no idea where they are. But they knew one thing for sure: they're in danger.

Riko and Anzu ate dinner like they wanted. Lovebeam told them to eat her share since her appetite deserted her. After they finished, they trotted up to Riko's room, where Lovebeam buried her face into her little hands. Riko screeched. "Uuuuugh! Whaddo we dooooo?! Kyo-chan and Starbeam are kidnapped and we're just sitting here! Meoooow!"

"I know. But we have to calm down and think, Riko," Anzu said.

It's here that Lovebeam pulled out her own ComLap. She opened it and pressed some buttons. Riko and Anzu turned around upon seeing the clacking sounds. Soon, an image of the queen appeared on the little screen. _"Lovebeam! How lovely it is to see you!"_ The queen's clear, pretty voice exclaimed cheerfully.

"Queen...we have a problem!" Riko suddenly exclaimed into the screen.

"_Whatever is the matter?"_ The queen asked, curious.

"Decebal...he took Kyo-chan and Starbeam!" Riko shouted sadly.

The queen gasped. _"Tell me what happened!"_ She demanded. Anzu wasted no time telling her everything. Queen Malgorzata listened intently, without interrupting. With a grim expression, she nodded. _"I understand. Stay put. I've pinpointed your location, so I'll come to Earth to assist you right now,"_ The Queen said before signing off. Anzu also wasted no time calling Marina and Hotaru to tell them about the Queen's arrival. Hotaru, Marina, and the other two fairies came to Riko's house as soon as they could, even though they had to sneak out. When they got to Riko's back yard, a flying horse with a horn on its head descended onto the grass, with the queen leaping off of its back, dressed in gold armor covering her Native American style garb.

Queen Malgorzata stroked the alicorn gently. "Thank you, Celestia. Good girl," The alicorn whinnied gratefully, basking in her master's praise.

"Your alicorn's name is Celestia?" Marina asked with her arms crossed.

"Yes. I think it's a fitting name for an alicorn," The Queen told her. As happy as everyone is about seeing an alicorn up close, they knew there are more important things to be attended to, their first priority being getting Starbeam and Kyoya back. Suddenly, Celestia raised her horn in the air, which glowed in a white light that spread throughout the area. It faded as quickly as it appeared.

"What just happened?" Hotaru asked.

"Celestia cast a spell that made clones of yourselves in your houses, following your routine down to the last detail, so your families won't worry or notice your absence," The Queen explained kindly. This made Riko sigh with relief. She had been agonizing over what to do regarding that. Good thing she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

"This is all Lovebeam's fault!" Sunbeam suddenly shouted angrily. "If she hadn't been so reckless and stupid, Starbeam and Kyo-chan wouldn't have been kidnapped!"

"Hey! I was just trying to help!" Lovebeam argued.

"All you ever do is ruin everything and make things worse!" Sunbeam argued back.

"Calm down, you two! Shouldn't we be focusing on rescuing Starbeam and Kyo-chan?!" Moonbeam yelled as she flew in between the bickering fairies.

"Moonbeam is right. Actually, I'm not sure if you girls know, but when you were born, you had microchips implanted in you so if you ever wandered off or someone took you, we can track your location anywhere on the planet," The Queen explained.

"Huh? We got microchipped?" Moonbeam asked, confused.

And she isn't the only one. "You microchip your citizens?" Anzu asked.

"Yes, as a precautionary measure for in case anything bad happens," The Queen said as she pulled out a small machine that looks like an I-Pad. "However, since we've only used these on Rozaniela, I don't know if this will work on Earth or not, so I may have to make some adjustments, and it might take a while."

"Won't someone see you and Celestia?" Hotaru asked.

"Don't worry. Celestia?"

On cue, Celestia's horn glowed again and another circle of white light enveloped the area, fading away just as quickly. "She cast an invisibility spell on us, so nobody will see us," The Queen explained.

"Why can't you do that? Didn't your ancestors have that kind of power?" Riko asked innocently.

"Riko!" Marina scolded.

"What?!" Riko yelped, confused by Marina's sudden outburst.

"It's fine. Our ancestors did have that power, but they gave all of their powers to the Energia, and that also meant their descendants-like myself-could not possess those abilities as well. The less power we had, the easier it'll be for people to get along and not lose themselves to hatred," Queen Malgorzata explained.

"Ummm…" Lovebeam began shyly. She looked reluctant to say what she wanted to, but she went and spat it out anyway. "I...I actually think we should leave Starbeam alone."

Everyone turned to look at her with faces that basically screamed, _'Do you even know what you're saying?'_ Lovebeam could tell their stares are a combination of shock and confusion, flabbergasted by what she just said. But Riko was the first to actually respond to that. "What do you mean?"

"Starbeam's actually quite strong. She's always able to get herself out of sticky situations, so I think we should let her handle this herself. I believe in her, and I think we'd just get in the way if we tried to-" Lovebeam tried to explain herself as kindly and lucidly as possible. Riko could tell there was no malice, no brattiness, no selfishness, and no callousness in her voice. Lovebeam seemed sincere and concerned. Unfortunately, the pink, long eared fairy was bereaved of the opportunity to finish what she wanted to say, as a very strong blow to the face literally sent her flying into some bushes.

"Sunbeam! What the heck?!" Anzu yelped.

"Did you really have to slap her?!" Moonbeam yelled, her silver eyes wide with bewilderment at her sister's very sudden and unprecedented change in demeanor. She knew Sunbeam had a bad habit of letting her anger get the better of her sometimes, but she was hardly ever violent with anyone, especially members of her own family. She only resorted to force when absolutely necessary, and if someone was being cruel or mean.

Lovebeam pulled herself out of the bushes and pulled some leaves out of her fur, only to come face to beet red face with an extremely and irrationally choleric Sunbeam, whose blue eyes had flames literally exploding in them, just dying to burn Lovebeam. "How can you be so selfish, Lovebeam?! I knew it all along! You don't care about Starbeam's welfare at all! You really do have no feelings, you inconsiderate, heartless coward!" Sunbeam screamed in her highest voice, the highest she could possibly muster. Sunbeam didn't think her anger could possibly top what she felt when Zenjin ripped her apart that day, but her anger at Lovebeam right now is definitely coming close. Cowed by her sister's yelling, Lovebeam tried to fly away, but Sunbeam grabbed one of her ears with an iron grip and wouldn't let her go for the life of her.

"Sunbeam, I don't think-" Hotaru tried to calm her down, but Sunbeam just wouldn't listen and kept going with her red eyed, red faced harangue.

"Starbeam's kidnapped and you seriously just want us to sit around and not care about whether she lives or dies?!" Sunbeam screamed. "Do you seriously want her to die?!"

"NO! You don't understand!" Lovebeam tried to argue back, but Sunbeam wouldn't relent. Not one bit.

"No! I DO understand! You're a stupid idiot with no feelings! You only care about yourself! But that's NOT how the world works, Lovebeam! The world doesn't revolve around you! To think I thought you were better than this!"

"Sunbeam! Enough!" Queen Malgorzata shouted.

"No! She deserves to feel ashamed for once! If you weren't so selfish and immature and reckless, Starbeam wouldn't be in this mess right now!" Sunbeam completely ignored her.

"I'm NOT selfish! I just-"

"YES YOU ARE! Why can't you admit it for once?!"

"You don't understand!" Lovebeam shouted, appalled by Sunbeam absolutely refusing to listen to what she has to say. Riko started moaning at this point, her eyes wide with unadulterated fright.

"I understand plenty! I get that you couldn't care less about your own sister and the fact that she's probably knocking on death's doors! Better yet, you don't even care about Mom or Dad! You just wanted to stay on Earth so you could play dress up and play pwetty pwetty pwincesses! You'd rather live the high life than care one bit about your own family! Why'd you even come to Earth anyway?! It can't be because you genuinely wanted to find the Pretty Cure and help Rozaniela! You probably just wanted to see what Earth's fashions are like! You never think about us at all! You never do!"

"Don't you DARE say that!" Lovebeam finally protested. "I'd die for all of you! For everyone I love!"

"You just said you wanted to leave Starbeam all alone!"

"Actually, no she didn't. She said-" Riko tried to interject, but Sunbeam cut her off. "Be quiet!"

"Why don't you understand?!"

"I UNDERSTAND PLENTY, YOU TRASH!"

"Alright! That! Is! ENOUGH!" Riko screamed as she bonked the two of them on their heads, finally stopping them from arguing anymore, even though Sunbeam really wanted to do some more. Her anger refused to simmer down. But instead of being angry, Lovebeam's purple eyes watered to the point where tears started pouring out of her eyes like waterfalls. She could seriously see absolutely nothing. Her pudgy face is completely contorted, broken by Sunbeam's tirade. Sunbeam stomped on her heart and ground the pieces into the dirt with her yelling and complete insensitivity. She didn't even bother to just sit down and listen. Lovebeam wondered if this is what Sunbeam felt when Zenjin broke her heart. But she didn't care about that now.

"WHY CAN'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME FOR OOOOONCE?!" Lovebeam shouted before the light on her bow clip glowed in a pink light. Then she disappeared into thin air.

"Hmph! It's just like her to run away like a coward!" Sunbeam hissed with her arms crossed.

"Sunbeam! I think you misunderstood what she was trying to say," Riko proclaimed.

"What was there to misunderstand?! She said she wants to leave Starbeam with Decebal!" Sunbeam argued, her anger unceasing. Riko kept her ears covered, but she continued on.

"No she didn't. She said Starbeam is able to get out of situations like this, and that we shouldn't doubt her abilities," Riko told her.

"Where did she go anyway?" Marina asked.

"Probably to Rozaniela," Hotaru suggested.

"The clips on their bows also serve as teleportation devices, and they can travel back and forth from Earth to Rozaniela individually," The Queen explained.

Moonbeam's ears twitched as a realization sprouted in her mind like a newly blossoming plant. "I think she probably went to our house," Moonbeam suggested.

Riko balled her fists and approached the queen. Moonbeam did the same. "Queen. Would it be okay if we went to Rozaniela to talk to her?" Riko asked.

"I can take her there myself. We'll try not to be too long," Moonbeam suggested with concern in her sweet voice.

"Just leave her alone! She needs to stop being a spoiled brat anyway!" Sunbeam yelled.

"Sunbeam! Just stop, okay?! Instead of picking fights and acting like you know her, why don't you try being her sister and listening to her for once?!" Moonbeam yelled, having finally had enough of Sunbeam's insensitivity and lack of concern for her sister. Sunbeam was so cowed by her youngest sister's scolding that she finally zipped her mouth shut. Is this really Moonbeam? "She isn't what you think she is!"

"Alright. You two can go. We'll let you know when we've tracked Starbeam and Kyoya," The Queen told her.

"Thank you, your majesty," Riko said with a bow. She and Moonbeam held hands as the crescent moon shaped clip on her ribbon glowed in a purple light, teleporting them off of Earth.

* * *

Unfortunately for the Pretty Cure, Decebal finally got to electrocute Starbeam. "Stop! Leave her alone!" Kyoya yelled, but the sullen, green haired man refused to listen. Soon, he finished and Starbeam fell in the boy's hands, charred and gasping for breath. Kyoya glared at the green haired man again without any mercy. "You don't have to go this far!"

"Yes I do! Anything that'll make these fools understand what suffering is!" Decebal yelled vehemently. Beileag took a few steps back, a little cowed by Decebal's anger. Even she found him scary.

'_I've never seen Decebal so passionate and angry before. He's scaring me. The boy's right. He really doesn't have to go this far. Is this why he was so serious about helping Zenjin get the Energia?'_ Beileag thought, feeling herself shiver.

"I think a lot of people know what suffering is!" Kyoya protested.

"Really? Tell me, boy. What do you define as hardship? Knowing your legs will never work? Parents divorcing? High school drama? Boyfriend stealing? Those are all petty compared to-" Decebal wanted to rant and go on until a blue ray of light shot at him, knocking him against the far side of the wall.

"Decebal!" Beileag was about to help until she got hit by a ray of light also, heading in the same direction. Kyoya couldn't believe it. Even after Starbeam got electrocuted and tortured for the sake of proving a point, she managed to still have enough energy to fire some beams at them.

"Come on, Kyo-chan!" Starbeam implored as she tugged on Kyoya's shirt. "We have to get out of here!"

"But I can't walk! Remember?!"

"I can help with that!" Starbeam suddenly turned into a light that flew onto Kyoya's back, stuck to him, and morphed into a cape.

"What are you-?!" Before Kyoya could ask, he found himself flying in the air, his feet no longer touching the ground. With a scream, he found himself flying out of the warehouse in a sea of confusion. But there is one thing he's happy about: the fact that they're escaping. But he wished that whatever Starbeam is doing, they'd slow down a bit.

"Calm yourself, Kyo-chan! I'm getting us out of here! That's why you're flying right now!" Starbeam explained.

"So you turned into a cape?!"

"Yes!"

"I thought you couldn't shapeshift!"

"We can only change into certain things! But now's not the time for that right now!"

"We don't even know if we're in the same neighborhood or not!"

"I'll get us back home! Just stay calm and let me figure things out! I won't let them catch us!"

"Wha!"

All of a sudden, flashes of blue lightning shot at them, even though they managed to evade them. Kyoya turned around with a gasp. Decebal and Beileag are flying after them in hot pursuit.

"You won't get away, you little brats!" Decebal yelled as he fired more thunderbolts at them.

"They must want to use us as a means to lure everyone out here so they can attack them!" Starbeam exclaimed.

"They're gonna come and save us anyway, so why bother?" Kyoya asked.

"Maybe we know too much," Starbeam said. Even so, they kept flying through the sky as fast a speed as Starbeam could muster.

* * *

Riko and Moonbeam descended onto Rozaniela. Riko didn't recognize the area she's in, but Moonbeam certainly did, and the purple fairy froze when she saw the remains of their once prosperous and happy neighborhood. Instead of seeing nice fairy houses with lots of trees, a street, sidewalks, and kids or fairies playing games, all they saw are piles of debris, trees stripped bare of their leaves, and not a single soul in sight.

"Is this your neighborhood, Moonbeam?" Riko asked softly. Moonbeam nodded grimly.

"My house is near here. It's just a big pile of debris now," Moonbeam muttered as she floated away. Riko followed her. They turned one corner to find yet another pile of debris, like everything else in the neighborhood.

Instead, they saw something different. An actual house, that actually looks like it's being worked on. It's standing tall and strong, with lots of wallpaper on the front of it, with some ladders on the side. There are a few roof tiles on it, but it's not finished yet. Moonbeam was frozen with awe and surprise. She saw her house become a pile of debris. She thought it would stay that way. She didn't expect it to be steadily worked on. She didn't expect someone would come and rebuild it for them.

"Mom must be...working on a new house for us…" Moonbeam murmured softly, but some joy peppered her sweet voice. Riko couldn't help but smile. "This must be why...the queen didn't want us to return at first…"

"Let's see if Lovebeam's inside," Riko told her gently. Moonbeam nodded and they went inside. Like the exterior of the house, the interior isn't quite finished yet. The walls are covered but not painted. The ceiling needs to be covered, as pipes-probably newly installed-traveled all over it. There's not one trace of furniture in here. No couches, no sofas, no TV, no tables, no toys, nothing. But it had that fresh fragrance that only belonged to new houses. However, there is one thing sitting in the house that looks like a plush toy but isn't. Riko walked up to the pink fairy and kneeled to her level. She could see Lovebeam's dejected expression, the tears shining on her lavender eyes.

"Mom's great. She's building a new house for us. She and the workers are probably on break…" Lovebeam murmured.

"That's good. You'll get to live here again," Riko said.

"Sunbeam's right. I am a coward. And selfish. And inconsiderate," Lovebeam murmured sadly, allowing a tear to trickle down one of her chubby cheeks.

"I don't think you are."

Lovebeam looked up at her with swollen, cherry red eyes, full of curiosity, confused by Riko's kindness and her soft tone of voice. "You don't?"

"No. If you really were selfish and inconsiderate, you wouldn't have taken care of Sunbeam while she was sick. You wouldn't have socked Zenjin in the face earlier today and that other time, when Fukiko-chan got attacked."

"He deserved it for hurting Sunbeam the way he did."

"If someone was mean to my little sister, I'd sock them in the face, too. That shows you care. Everyone's selfish at times, even me. But I know you're not heartless, and I know you have feelings."

"I...I do care about people. I try to help out whenever I can. But...they don't like it," Lovebeam began sadly, her voice trembling. "I'm the oldest in my family. When my sisters were born, I wanted to help them with everything and be there for them and take care of them, like any big sister would. Sure, I wouldn't have time to do what I like, but I knew better. But...when they got older, they didn't like it when I tried to help them."

(flashback)

_A young Lovebeam flew around the house and stopped in the living room when she saw her younger sister, Sunbeam, trying to carry a plate of cookies over her head. The cookie sheet looked bigger than she could handle, and Sunbeam was clearly struggling to keep it balanced. Thankfully, no cookies fell out. Lovebeam floated over to her and very slowly put herself underneath one side of the cookie sheet._

"_I'll help you!" Lovebeam said as she put her hands on the bottom of the metal cookie sheet to ease the burden on Sunbeam._

"_You don't need to. I can do it myself," Sunbeam told her._

"_But this thing's too big for you! The cookies'll fall!" Lovebeam protested._

"_It's fine! I need to learn how to do this stuff myself!" Sunbeam argued. But she accidentally took a hand off the cookie sheet, and all of a sudden, some cookies began sliding off. Sunbeam tried to get them, but they fell on the hard floor. Lovebeam managed to balance the cookie sheet and put it on a little table in the living room, but to everyone's shock, they only managed to save four cookies. The rest of them mushed onto the floor, unable to be consumed. Sunbeam was livid._

"_You ruined it, you dummy! I could have done it just fine by myself!" Sunbeam yelled._

"_No I didn't! You took your hand off the sheet! I was just trying to help!" Lovebeam protested, understandably hurt by Sunbeam's accusation._

_Another time, Lovebeam found Starbeam sitting in her room, looking over a worksheet, probably for school. She sweetly walked into the room. "Do you need help studying? I can help. I'm good at studying for tests."_

"_I appreciate your generosity, but I opine that this test shan't be difficult to pass with flying colors. But thanks for your offer. I'll be alright," Starbeam said without taking her eyes off of her paper._

"_Wow. You sure know a lot of big words," Lovebeam said and left the room. She's happy that Starbeam is so confident in her studying. But she wished she could have helped her out a little bit, even if she knows she's going to pass whatever test she's studying for._

_There was another time when Lovebeam saw Starbeam being surrounded by some fairies, who had mean faces on them. _'Those meanies! They're gonna bully her again! Nobody picks on my baby sister! Not on my watch!'_ Lovebeam thought as she was about to go and give those nasty bullies a good spanking. However, before she could fly in and do anything, the fairies suddenly flew away just as quickly, leaving behind a smiling Starbeam._

"_What did you do just now?" Lovebeam asked when she approached her younger sister._

"_Salutations, Lovebeam. Those boys are up to their old machinations again. Thankfully, I managed to not only escape their clutches, but drive them crazy with my sesquipedalian loquaciousness. It was great fun," Starbeam explained with a chuckle._

"_I could have kicked their butts so they'd leave you alone," Lovebeam said._

"_I know, but I don't want you to be punished. Also, I have to learn how to fight my own battles and stand on my own two feet. I appreciate your help, but I can't be relying on everyone and using them as crutches forever. Oh! How about we have lunch. Sunbeam's learning how to make cinnamon rolls," Starbeam explained._

_Instead of feeling rejected like she expected, admiration creeped into her heart like a non-poisonous snake. She couldn't believe Starbeam was growing up this fast, learning how to fight her own battles and stand up to bullies by using her addiction to big words to her advantage. However, as much as Lovebeam lauded her sister for using her talent to avoid trouble, she wished she could have helped her out._

(end flashback)

"I've seen Starbeam drive bullies crazy with her talk, and when they didn't relent, she always found a way out. She took some judo classes and I've seen her take on some especially mean fairies. I really admired her for that, so I started believing that she really could take care of herself in situations like that. I wasn't saying we should let Decebal hurt her or that we should leave her there. I...I want to believe in her. She's smart and strong. I wanted to believe in her and not get in her way like I usually did," Lovebeam said sadly. Riko stroke one of her long ears with her fingers. Moonbeam listened intently. She never saw this side of Lovebeam before. After hearing all of this, she's further convinced that Lovebeam is most definitely not heartless or inconsiderate. In fact, it's the other way around. She's considerate enough to let her sisters grow up and learn to handle themselves when needed. Lovebeam knew she couldn't baby them, so she left them alone.

But that didn't mean Lovebeam didn't help them when they did need it. Sunbeam got sick because of the stress of leaving home, but Lovebeam stayed by her side and did whatever she could to help her get better. Not once did Lovebeam complain, whine, or anything like that. Moonbeam remembered a time when she tried to fly but kept falling and hurting herself, bawling in her failure. But Lovebeam always showed her how to do it, and encouraged her to keep trying. "Don't give up, Moonbeam! You can do it! It takes lots of practice! Try again!" Lovebeam never stopped cheering her on and comforting her when she fell. She never demeaned her for not being able to get it right off. In the end, Moonbeam managed to fly without falling. The joy both she and Lovebeam felt that day couldn't be contained, and they cheered and rejoiced happily. There was also the time when Moonbeam spilled juice on the rug and Lovebeam willingly-and without complaint-took the blame for it, the times when Lovebeam helped her with her homework, when she got a really nice birthday present from Sunbeam-who accepted it happily, when she helped Moonbeam buy a good birthday present for their father, all those happy memories they shared together.

"I know I shouldn't baby my sisters and get in their way-which I admit I usually do, and don't mean to-but...nobody helps me when I need it most of the time. When I'm sad, I can't tell my sisters about it because they either don't listen or say it's my fault and that I should get over it," Lovebeam confessed.

"I know how you feel," Riko told her.

"I don't think that, and I never tell you to get over it," Moonbeam told her reassuringly, with a twinge of sadness peppering her voice. How could Lovebeam even think those things? Moonbeam always tried to be there for her big sister, even if there was nothing she could really do. Is Lovebeam really this insecure? Does she feel like she has to hold everything inside because she's afraid everyone will get mad at her if she vents her frustrations?

"I know you don't, Moonbeam. You always comfort me when I'm sad, even when I did do something bad. You don't yell or make a big deal about it like Sunbeam always does, and you always listen and don't jump to conclusions," Lovebeam told her gratefully but still sadly. "But...Sunbeam and Starbeam...and everyone else...they all expect me to be perfect. They all expect me to be able to solve my own problems and ignore me when I need their help! When I try to tell anyone anything, especially Sunbeam, they ignore me and don't listen!" This is where she started crying for real, and rather loudly. She turned to Riko and flew into her arms. "Everyone expects me to always have the answers and they always tell me to be considerate, but they never help me when I need it! They never be considerate with me! They never want to help me with my problems or offer me advice when I need it! I'm sick of always being ignored and treated like I don't matter! I'm sick of having everything I say and do be mistaken as bad, especially by my own family! That's why I started acting like a brat! So somebody could at least _notice_ me! So someone could at least notice when I'm sad or having problems or need a shoulder to cry on! I have problems too, y'know?! I'm not perfect, but I feel like everyone wants me to be for their own convenience! I've always tried to be considerate of everyone, but they either think I'm inconsiderate or completely ignore me when I need them! If that's how everyone's gonna keep treating me, then I'm DONE being considerate! Let me be selfish for once! I'm sick of doing stuff for people and not feeling appreciated! But I DO have feelings! I DO care! I DO worry about everyone's welfare! I don't want Starbeam to be hurt or even die! But...there are things even I can't handle! I can't handle all of this! I can't handle my home being destroyed! I can't keep everyone together even though I really want to! But noooo, I can't tell anyone all this, because I need to get over it! The whole world doesn't revolve around me! I'm not the only one who's suffering! I'm the big sister! I have to keep everyone together! It's my job! I know all of that! But...I can be sad too, y'know?! Who says I can't be sad or selfish or tell people how I feel for once?! I can't do everything! I can't take it anymore! I wish someone would care about me or notice me for once!"

Finally, Lovebeam cried into Riko's shirt, bawling and leaving big tear marks all over Riko's shirt. All Riko did was stroke her heart covered back as she cried, hoping her gesture would tell Lovebeam that she cares, that she's listening, that her cries are being heard. Lovebeam wailed into her shirt, but she definitely felt the warmth in Riko's hands stroking her fur. Not only that, she felt like a huge pile of bricks finally got lifted off of her by some kind of machine. She no longer felt weighed down by everyone's expectations or maligned accusations. Moonbeam's ears drooped down dejectedly. How could she not have known any of this about her big sister? How could she not have known Lovebeam was this insecure, that she really felt like she was inadequate or not worth it, in her own family, that she felt like she had to keep smiling and keep everyone together because she's the big sister and endure everything because that's what everyone expects of her? Moonbeam never tried to expect these things out of her. Sure, she did rely on her for some things, but she never did it to make Lovebeam sad or angry.

"You've been holding it all in all this time, haven't you?" Riko whispered softly.

"I didn't tell anyone. I was afraid they'd tell me to get over it, like Sunbeam does. That's one of the reasons why I didn't want to come to Rozaniela back when the dimensions finally paralleled. I didn't want to be a burden to Mom and Dad...and I was afraid they'd tell me I'm a bad sister," Lovebeam said, softer this time. The tears didn't stop.

"I don't know your parents, but I don't think they'd say that. I think they'd be happy that you and everyone else are at least alright. They're probably worrying themselves sick over you, and...I can actually relate to you in a way," Riko told her.

Lovebeam looked up with surprise, her lavendar eyes curious. "How so?"

"Well...just recently, I found out I have something called Autism. It means my brain didn't come out quite right, so I'm not like other kids. I tend to do weird stuff like flap my hands, rock back and forth, and say stuff I shouldn't. I'm scared of loud noise when other kids can handle it just fine. I don't understand certain rules but everyone acts like me not being like them is a crime worthy of the death penalty. At least the people in all the schools I went to before I moved here. Kids and teachers at my other schools were really mean and hated me with the fury of a thousand bob cats. They never helped me when I needed it. Whenever I was sad, they'd either beat me or just tell me to get over it. They even said that I have no feelings. I hated that. Not only that, I have a little sister, too, but she hates me. I don't blame her, as I kinda ruined her life with my weirdness, especially her fifth birthday party. I don't mean to make people embarrassed or cause any trouble, but it just happens, and people think I'm a bad person and don't listen."

"I never knew that. Sorry for all the mean things I said about you, and you definitely have feelings! If you didn't, you wouldn't be comforting me like this!"

"It's alright. I kinda deserve it. I am pretty stupid and dumb. I want to love Rina, but she hates me and is convinced I'm the worst thing that ever happened to her. Sometimes, I wish I could just disappear. I often wish I had been born a cat or lived in Moominvalley, where everyone's happy and nice and are never mean to anyone because of how they look or act."

Moonbeam's ears twitched. Realizations hit her like a freight train. Riko acts like a cat because she wishes she could be one instead of an autistic girl? She wishes she could actually live in fantasy worlds because they don't discriminate against the people living in them? True, Moonbeam is only just learning about Riko's Autism now (she made a mental note to study it when this whole brouhaha is over), but a lot of things Riko says are starting to make a lot of sense now. Riko's been discriminated against her whole life, from the stories she's heard, and she seems to hate herself, so she wishes she was different, something everyone could like and not be bothered by. Kind of like Lovebeam. If anything, Riko's probably even more insecure than Lovebeam. She wished she knew the extent of her insecurity, like what she's learning about Lovebeam now.

"You're not stupid!" Moonbeam suddenly exclaimed. "If you were, you wouldn't get good grades on your homework! If you really were stupid, you wouldn't be nice to everyone, and that's what I like about you! You're nice and you care about your loved ones, and that's what matters!"

"That's true," Lovebeam agreed.

"I don't even like school. I only study hard because I have to," Riko said. "But anyway...I don't think you're a brat, Lovebeam. True, you are really whiny and selfish, but I know you have feelings and care."

"I do too!" Moonbeam piped in. "But...there are things even we can't handle and we get sad too. Sunbeam couldn't get through to Zenjin and he really hurt her. I wish I could have seen all of this coming and had been able to stop it in some way. Plus...I know you think you'll only get in Starbeam's way and ruin everything, but...I think you'll regret it if you're...not there for her now," Moonbeam told her kindly, putting a small purple hand on Lovebeam's pink one.

Lovebeam looked down sadly. Moonbeam had a good point. Starbeam's been able to face school bullies before, and they hardly had any powers. But they're up against Zenjin, who, at this point in time, has powers he really shouldn't have. He can do anything from freeze time to completely destroy an entire universe with the Energia in his bloodstream. The fairies and the queen have seen the extent of Zenjin's transgressions. With their own eyes. There was no way Starbeam or Kyoya could possibly be able to stand even the tiniest millimeter of a chance against him, Kyoya even more so since he can't walk, and running is especially impossible for him. Starbeam would definitely put her life on the line for him, like she would everyone else, but she could die. They both could. If she and the Pretty Cure aren't there for him now...Lovebeam looked into Riko's eyes.

"Let's go. Starbeam and Kyo-chan need us," She told her softly, but with a twinge of courage in her voice and warmth in her lavender eyes. Riko nodded with a smile. Moonbeam did the same. All of a sudden, the ComLap appeared in front of Moonbeam, and the image of Queen Malgorzata appeared on the green.

"_Girls. I've managed to pinpoint Starbeam's location. Come back to Earth at once!"_ Queen Malgorzata exclaimed.

"We'll be there in a bit!" Riko told her.

"Catch you on the rebound!" Lovebeam piped in with her usual sweet smile. Moonbeam smiled, feeling a sense of relief overtake her like a canopy over a bed. Talking to Riko has certainly helped Lovebeam quite a lot. She knew she wasn't so bratty after all. She does have feelings. Sunbeam hurt them with her insinuations, but seeing Lovebeam's smile radiating her chubby, cotton candy pink face seemed to repair some pieces of her broken heart somewhat.

* * *

"Are we in Hikaribashi yet?!" Kyoya yelped, still being dragged in the sky by Starbeam.

"I don't know! I don't recognize any of these buildings!" Starbeam told him. "But it looks like we've managed to shake off Decebal and Beileag. Oh! I see a forest down there!"

Starbeam finally slowed down as she and Kyoya descended into an ocean of trees in some town far away from Hikaribashi. It's next to an open meadow, but the pale, lime green leaves on the trees are definitely bushy and thick enough to hide a little boy and a blue teddy bear-like creature from anyone's view. They descended in front of a particularly big oak tree, prompting Starbeam to return to her original form. The trees are so thick, they practically blocked all sunlight, leaving only a few sunny spots dancing on the dirt beneath their feet. Kyoya leaned against a tree while sitting down as he watched Starbeam pant like she ran a marathon. Sweat beaded her pale blue face. Some of it trickled down her cheeks and dripped onto the dirt, leaving dark marks.

"A bit of a bumpy ride, but thanks for saving me back there," Kyoya told her with a smile as he adjusted his glasses to fit on his face better.

"You're very welcome. I could very well say the same to you, since you took Decebal's lightning attack for me earlier," Starbeam told him gratefully, but the red haired boy could see her emerald eyes are an ocean of worry and concern. He did like that they're the same color as his own eyes. "However...why did you do that? He could have killed you. I know for a fact that people who have been struck by lightning are very likely to perish."

"Did you really expect me to just sit there and let him torture you? No way! I'd let myself be paralyzed forever or swim in a sea of fire than let anyone hurt you or anyone else I love! Besides, you never did anything bad to him!" Kyoya exclaimed audaciously, balling one of his fists and holding it to his chest, emphasizing that he means what he says.

Starbeam looked down at the splotchy dirt beneath her stubby little feet. She couldn't believe how courageous and brave Kyoya is, even though he's the most vulnerable of the duo right now since he can't walk. He put his life on the line for her sake, and would likely do it again. She admired him and his courage, but even she knew it wouldn't be enough to save them both. Starbeam pulled her ComLap out of her star shaped bow clip and began tinkering with it. All of a sudden, Moonbeam's face appeared on the little screen.

"_Starbeam! Is that you?! You're okay!"_ Moonbeam yelped with relief in her high pitched voice.

"Yes, little sister! Kyo-chan and I are alright. I don't have any knowledge of the area we're in right now, but we managed to escape Decebal and Beileag's clutches as of right now. It probably won't last, as they're searching for us."

"_Just stay put! We know where you are, and we're not too far from it right now, so we'll be there as soon as we can! Whatever happens, be safe, okay?"_ Moonbeam told her.

"Alright. You do the same," Starbeam told her before closing the ComLap and putting it back in her star shaped bow clip.

"I knew they'd find us," Kyoya said with a smile. Starbeam could tell that he had faith in them the whole time, and it never wavered. But all of a sudden, purple wiggly things popped out of the ground and coiled around Kyoya like a big python trying to eat him! He struggled to his feet and tried to get away, even though he can barely walk, but he tripped and fell face down on the ground. His glasses bounced off of his face.

"Kyo-chan!" Starbeam tried to fly to his aid but some purple masses coiled around her as well.

"Got'cha, my pretties!" Beileag's high pitched voice exclaimed from a few feet away from them. Starbeam looked up to find one of Beileag's hands glowing in an indigo light, with Decebal coming up behind her with a victorious but smug smirk on his face.

"Good work, Billie. We have the rats in our clutches at last," Decebal told her.

Beileag blushed and squealed happily, like she was asked to go on a date with a cute boy. "You're embarrassing me, Decebal! But thank you!"

Kyoya rolled his eyes, blurry as they are without his glasses. _'She's probably got a major crush on that guy,'_ Kyoya thought before shouting, "Let us go!"

"Absolutely not! You know too much, and you make a great lure for the Pretty Cure," Decebal told him condescendingly.

"Hey! That rhymed!" Beileag exclaimed with a sweet, ditzy smile.

"I really don't see how knowing that you want to destroy a planet because you think it's all sugary and sweet counts as knowing too much. It's not even that good of a motivation to take over the world!" Kyoya retorted boldly. "Besides, Earth is kind of like that too! People are always complaining about violent video games and comic books and anime, believing that they corrupt people and teach them bad things and even make them kill people! But they don't go around killing people to get their point across. If they did, it'd make them look bad, and it'd completely go against everything they're fighting for!"

"He does have a point," Beileag piped in, which made a vein pop in Decebal's head.

"Rozaniela isn't the planet you think it is, Decebal. You didn't have to go to such extremes. All of this could have been avoided if you had just discussed your concerns with the King or Queen-" Starbeam reasoned, but he suddenly unsheathed his rapier and pointed it at the blue fairy.

"I DID THAT ALREADY! But that naive, spineless fool Ghislain kicked me out of the royal guard for even bringing up the subject with him! The fact that he kicked me out confirms that he and everyone else on this planet don't stand for anyone going against the status quo! To them, suffering and misery have no place on Rozaniela, and everything just HAS to be nice and happy so everyone can be _'protected!'_ Sometimes, extremes HAVE to be taken in order for people to finally get the message!" Decebal bellowed like a ferocious animal, his cherry red eyes wide with rancor. Even Kyoya couldn't look him in the eye. "I honestly want to kill you both right now for being so stupid and naive to think there is no suffering and misery in this world. Someone has to make you suffer to understand the real world. Why not me or Zenjin?" Decebal pulled up his rapier, looking ready to slice them into little tiny pieces.

"Over my dead body!" All of a sudden, a pink tornado rammed into Decebal's hand, knocking the rapier right out of his hand, sending it rolling on the dirt. The pink tornado then descended in front of Kyoya and Starbeam, revealing itself to be Lovebeam. "You're dead if you lay so much as a hand on my friend and baby sister!"

Out of nowhere, the Pretty Cure, Sunbeam, Moonbeam, Queen Malgorzata, and her alicorn Celestia all descended before a bewildered and flabbergasted Decebal and Beileag, their eyes wide with shock. Kyoya and Starbeam's eyes, however, were wide with relief and overwhelming joy.

"You made it!" Kyoya exclaimed. Cure Twilight got her claws out and cut the purple coils wrapping them.

"Sorry we took so long. You're not hurt are you?" Cure Twilight asked with concern as she escorted Kyoya to Celestia.

"A little fried on the inside, but I'm good," Kyoya said as Celestia used her psychic powers to put him on her back.

"Celestia. Take Kyo-chan home for us. Okay?" Cure Twilight said. Celestia nodded before spreading her wings and flying away with Kyoya on her back.

"You've got some nerve showing up here, Queen!" Decebal yelled as he grabbed his rapier. The Queen drew out a golden trident and pointed it to the defiant green haired man without any mercy or pity in her emerald eyes.

"Zenjin may be responsible for the massacre of many of my beloved subjects, but to think you stole the Energia for him and set everything in motion! It pains me to fight you, but don't think I'll show you any mercy!" The Queen edicted in a booming voice. But it didn't scare him, as Decebal suddenly flew out of the forest and into the meadow, followed by Beileag.

"GET HIM!" Cure Dawn shouted, drawing out her nunchucks. On her command, everyone flew into the meadow to fight Decebal and Beileag.

Cure Starlight was the first to make her move on Decebal, using her naginata to clash with Decebal's rapier to distract him so Cure Dawn could land a good punch to the face. It sent him flying to the ground, and before he could get back up, he found Cure Twilight about to unleash a Twilight Serenade on him. He would have been creamed if Beileag hadn't set up an indigo colored dome-shaped shield to protect him. When the shield faded, the Queen tried to stab him with her trident, but Decebal managed to intercept it with her rapier. But he found that he's being pushed back quite a bit. _'The Queen sure is strong. But a stupid woman like her is better of licking the feet of that fool she's married to. Such is the fate of all women,'_ Decebal thought.

"You must repent for your crimes!" Malgorzata exclaimed.

"I don't need to repent anything!" Decebal yelled back as he pushed the trident away and flew to another part of the meadow. Cure Dusk tried to land some punches on him, but with a swift kick to the abdomen, he sent her flying against a tree.

"Dusk!" Cure Twilight flew to her orange friends aid, accompanied by Moonbeam and Starbeam.

"Starlight Shower!" Cure Starlight commanded a rain of stars to fall from the sky. They seemed like they hit Decebal until the dust cloud revealed that the green haired man set up a barrier around himself with a smug smirk on his face. When it dissipated, he flew toward Cure Starlight to maim her with his rapier, but she grabbed the sword with her two hands, preventing it from leaving a scratch on her. But she had to admit, Decebal is quite strong, and she can't hold the sword forever.

"Starlight!" Sunbeam and Lovebeam managed to ram themselves into Decebal enough for him to be distracted enough for the blue cure to land a kick and a punch on him. But this didn't deter him one bit. He smacked the fairies away like they were flies. Cure Twilight managed to catch them in the nick of time. She tried to fly away, but Beileag appeared in front of the bewildered purple cure.

"It's very rude to run away from a special occasion, little girl!" Beileag chirped in a sickeningly sweet voice as she snapped her fingers and made purple ropes clamp around the purple cure, sending her to the ground with Lovebeam and Sunbeam squeezed in her arms.

"Golden Dawn Explosion!" Cure Dawn slammed her nunchucks on the ground, making a huge ball of light consume the meadow. It sent Beileag flying far beyond the forest. Not only that, the purple coils around Cure Twilight dissipated into thin air, freeing her. Cure Dawn hopped to her and helped her up.

"Thanks," Cure Twilight told her gratefully.

"Don't mention it," Cure Dawn said.

"Mandarin Dusk Inferno!" Cure Dusk unleashed a tornado of fire on Decebal. The fiery twister consumed him. "I got him!" Cure Dusk exclaimed with a smile, thinking they have the upper hand. Unfortunately for her, the fiery tornado suddenly perished as Decebal unleashed a black explosion of energy, sending her and other cures, including the Queen, across the meadow. But the Queen was quick to get back on her feet and charge at the callous green haired man with her shimmering golden trident in hand.

"Don't be so cocky, Queen!" Decebal got his rapier out again, but before he could do anything, she swipes his rapier out of his hands with her trident, sending it rolling on the grass. She then puts her trident away, grabs Decebal by the shirt, and lands a very harsh punch to the face, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Decebal struggled to get on his feet, but felt something warm on his face. He could see red droplets marking his beautiful Shakespearian garb. Just seeing the red liquid made his cherry red eyes wide with bloodlust. "You DARE sully my beautiful face, you rotten, two faced witch!"

With her own fierce glance at the vitriolic green haired man, the Queen drew out her trident once again. "Turn yourself in, Decebal! It is your duty!" Queen Malgorzata demanded audaciously in a strong, booming voice, fitting for a warrior in battle. Decebal could tell by her wicked battle stance, the steady way she held her trident, the fierce, courageous glint in her eyes, and the booming tone of voice that she is in no mood for letting him get away with his crimes. Not that he cared, nor was willing to concede defeat like she wanted. Soon, the Pretty Cure and the fairies surrounded him with their weapons ready to give him a piece of their minds.

"Ready for our finisher, girls?" Cure Twilight edicted like a leader. The girls nodded and proceeded with their final attack.

"Lend us your strength, holy light! Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!" The light that made the meadow flash consumed Decebal. For a moment, they thought he was defeated...until a black light suddenly pierced through their light, blowing everyone to different parts of the meadow. They froze in horror to find Decebal's eyes filled to the brim with bloodlust. Before they could do anything else to him, purple squiggly things wrapped around everyone, including the fairies, and they found their bodies jolting from the inside out with blue electricity. They felt like their bodies were being burned inside and out, and they all screamed in excruciating pain.

"Yes! Scream! This is what suffering is, you sheltered cave rats! This tells me who you all are!" Decebal screamed, his mouth wider than he thought it could be. Absolute sociopathic glee danced in his blood lust filled eyes. He wished Zenjin was here to see this. But what he didn't know is that the coils around the Queen suddenly dissipated via being cut with a small Swiss Army knife. Not only that, Cure Twilight freed herself as well with her cat claws. The two of them-side by side, with matching green eyes blazing with courage-charged at Decebal and landed massive punches to the abdomen, rendering him unable to breath. So much so that the coils around the girls and fairies vanished, and they were free from the electric torture. However, Decebal recovered quickly and tried to slash the Queen with his rapier, but the silver haired woman and the purple cure both intercepted it with the trident and claws. The two girls pushed with all their might, hoping to get through him. Finally, with a booming yell, they both managed to push past Decebal and launch flurries of kicks and punches on the hapless green haired man.

"This is for everyone on Rozaniela!" The Queen yelled as she took Decebal by his fluffy collar and threw him onto another part of the meadow. But before she could detain him, a purple ball of energy suddenly hit the area between her and Decebal. The fairies scattered around her and formed a shield around their queen so she wouldn't get hurt.

"Don't hurt him!"

When the queen opened her eyes, she found Beileag standing in front of a very irritated and battered Decebal, who still managed to get back on his feet in spite of everything the Queen and the Pretty Cures did to him. He didn't seem happy when Beileag intervened just now. "Get out of my way!"

"Please! Don't hurt him anymore!" Beileag pleaded with her arms stretched out like she was shielding Decebal from any further attacks.

The fairies brought down their shield. The Queen remained as composed as she always was. "Billie, dear. I thought you were better than this. You played a part in their machinations, too?"

Beileag didn't say anything. Her eyes-hidden behind her tinted, star shaped glasses-trembled in the presence of the royalty in front of her. But she didn't dare move from where she was. "Why, Billie? Why are you helping them? You have no reason to do any of this. You're not like Decebal. But why? I want to know! You have a bright future ahead of you! Don't throw it away!" The Queen pleaded like she was trying to stop a friend from committing suicide. Riko could hear the Queen's normally composed and regal voice breaking with worry and sorrow. Even Beileag had a dejected look on her face, like she really wanted to run to the Queen and defect to her. But the indigo haired hippie remained in place.

"I...I agree that Decebal's going too far. But...I...I love him…" Beileag muttered. But before she could say anything more, Decebal stood up and smacked her across the face so hard that she fell to the floor.

"You're in my way, you idiot!" Decebal roared before drawing out his rapier again.

The angry glint returned to the Queen's eyes. "You can do better than this, Beileag! Look how he treats you! Do you really want to spend the rest of your life being his punching bag?!" The Queen demanded angrily.

"He's only angry because you won't listen to him!" Beileag answered as she struggled to get back on her ridiculously high heeled feet.

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Cure Dusk fired a flaming arrow at him, which he caught with his gloved hand and crushed like it was a piece of paper. The flames dissipated and they didn't even leave any marks on his perfectly white gloves.

"Stupid little pests," Decebal muttered.

"I should never have left raising Zenjin to you had I known this was what you had planned!" The Queen roared as she clutched her trusted trident. "Do you even understand the gravity of your crimes?!"

"Yes, we do. But do we look like we care? Rozaniela deserves to be a barren wasteland! Your people deserve to know what it's like to suffer and be miserable! Now if you'll excuse us, we have an objective to fulfill, and you'd best stay out of our way! You stand no chance against Zenjin and us!" Decebal bellowed as he snapped his fingers before teleporting away with Beileag at his side. However, a huge army of black Transparent appeared and began surrounding the girls. But they didn't get to do anything, as the Queen took her trident and maimed every single black blob, slicing them all into thin air without grunting or complaining. The girls gasped at the Queen curbstomping every single one of those black blobby things. They heard that she was powerful and skilled, but their jaws dropped when they fixated their eyes on Malgorzata managing to knock out nearly every single Transparent with just her trident. She sure is awesome.

When the Queen maimed the final transparent, Cure Twilight fell to her knees in exhaustion, panting from the intense battle. It's here that Celestia returned and descended onto the meadow, with her beautiful, long rainbow mane shimmering in the orange light of the sunset, her pearl horn shining like it rested beneath the sea. Starbeam suddenly flew to Lovebeam and trapped her in a hug. Moonbeam did the same. "I'm so glad you're okay, Starbeam!" Lovebeam squealed happily.

"I am ever so grateful you came to my rescue," Starbeam chirped gratefully and nuzzled her older sister, who giggled sweetly, basking in her little sister's gratitude and relief. Lovebeam herself was drowning in a tsunami of relief, happy that Starbeam is safe and sound. She was so sad she wanted to die before, but now she doesn't want to so much as trade places with an angel. Then, the three sisters stopped when Sunbeam approached them, with a guarded but remorseful expression on her chubby orange face.

"Lovebeam...I'm sorry for the mean things I said about you. Moonbeam told me everything when we came to rescue Starbeam," Sunbeam told her softly but still keeping a twinge of caution in her voice.

"Oh? Did you two have a disagreement yet again?" Starbeam asked innocently, curious as to what their fight was about.

"Yes, and it's okay. I kind of deserved it," Lovebeam said. "But you're wrong in that I don't have any feelings or that I don't care what happens to my family. I do care."

"It's true. If she really didn't care, she wouldn't have helped us out just now," Moonbeam said.

"I get it. But you're really going to have to work on that bratty attitude of yours. Don't think I'm gonna let you off easy for what you said about Starbeam," Sunbeam said before flying toward Marina.

"What DID you say about me, Lovebeam?" Starbeam asked. Lovebeam and Moonbeam explained everything to the blue fairy. "I see. You thought you'd get in my way and wanted to trust in my abilities. I understand. I know you weren't trying to be rude or mean. But there are things even I can't do, and I do need help sometimes. If I wanted help, I'd definitely ask."

Lovebeam found herself blubbering before she squeezed Starbeam yet again. "I'm so sorry, little sister! I'm sorry I'm such a bad big sister!" Lovebeam blubbered like a baby. Starbeam simply stroke her sister's heart covered back with her paw.

"You're not a bad big sister. You came for me after all. That's what sisters do. Thank you for being there," Starbeam told her. When Lovebeam finally finished blubbering, the girls-tired and exhausted from that grueling battle, hopped onto Celestia's back as the beautiful alicorn flew them all home before taking the Queen back to Rozaniela.


	19. Bonus: Princess Kaguya was a Cat

Twilight Pretty Cure, Bonus Chapter

Riko Chapter: Princess Kaguya was a Cat.

You really don't get what the big deal is about being normal. What's so good about normal, you ask yourself. You don't like that people your age start cursing, using bad words, wearing those ridiculously short skirts, wearing their pants so low you can see their entire underwear (yuck!), talking endlessly about boys and other icky stuff she overhears but doesn't want to think about. You wonder if there's some kind of secret underground club they go to where they learn all this so-called normal stuff: how to dress, what to say, what words are cool, what shows you can and can't watch, etc.

You think this because you really don't know how else to figure out how it works. You know there's some kind of secret kid culture lurking around right under your nose, but you can't figure it out, and you're especially baffled and scared when you express how odd it is and they get mad at you for being weird. Oh, how you hate the sound of yelling! It rips your eardrums to pieces, makes you shake, and you want to run away but you can't even though there are plenty of escape routes because it's against school rules to leave the classroom for any reason unless you have to go to the bathroom, and you can't stay in the bathroom for too long because you'll miss some lessons that might be important.

But you don't mind not being normal. You don't see what the big deal is about wearing those short skirts (You hate skirts and dresses with a passion. Yuck! What if mean, smelly boys come up to you and trip you and they see your underwear and make fun of you for the rest of your life? Plus, you don't like how the cold, woody, splintery desk chairs feel on your skin and underwear) and using bad words when you're not supposed to. Not only that, it always seems to change every week or so. One week, everybody's obsessed with some rap singer or something, and the week after that, nobody likes him or his songs anymore. It's all so confusing. You wonder if you're on some alien planet that's different from everything you know, like Princess Kaguya.

You absolutely love the story of Princess Kaguya, or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It was in the fourth grade when your class had to read the story once day. Everybody around you complained about it being boring, uninteresting, unexciting, and dumb. But you didn't think that at all. You were entranced. You loved the plight of the princess, who was loved by her new family even though she was from a magical fairy kingdom on the moon, and you loved how bold she was in refusing to marry those guys and her reasons for not doing so. You do wish she stayed with her adoptive family, though. But other than that, you ate that story up like a cat clawing its prey. Ever since then, you begged your mother to find the story in a book somewhere. On your tenth birthday, you got lots of goodies on your birthday, like a Japanese folklore collection with the Kaguya story in it! You admit you liked your new Moomin books better, but you always found time to read the tiny Princess Kaguya story.

You wonder if maybe you're secretly an alien creature from some magical fairy kingdom from the moon, just like Princess Kaguya. Maybe that's why you're not normal compared to everybody else. Maybe you have secret alien powers no human being has, like magic or teleportation or things like that. There were times when you used to jump off the foot of your bed and flap your arms really hard to see if you could fly like a bird. You never did (She never got hurt doing this). You concentrated really hard to see if you could teleport. You never did. You put your circle shaped fingers around your eyes to see if you could shoot laser eye beams. You never did. You finally realize you don't have superpowers, but you don't understand what it is about you that everyone else considers weird, and they treat you like you're one of those evil aliens from outer space who come to Earth to eat everybody's brains just for stupid stuff, like saying the wrong thing or liking cartoons when you're not supposed to (who cares about that, you say to yourself. At least the shows you watch are nice, and don't involve lots of yelling or fighting, or drugs or alcohol or silly love triangles). You definitely remember playing aliens with kids in kindergarten, where you'd chase everybody around with your hands shaped like cat claws and shouting "BRAAAAIIIIIIINS!" with everybody laughing and screaming and running away. That was a lot of fun.

At least your family loves you for who you are, though! You love cuddling up to your dad and snuggling on his lap, and he would stroke your raven black hair with his rugged hands gently, like you're a kitten curling up on his lap, feeling like a cute housepet being scratched behind her ears. You think maybe you're like a cat to them. Maybe a nice soft, brown, yellow, and white calico kitty who rubs against everyone's legs and then goes off to sleep, basking underneath the warm and huggy sunlight, or if it's night time, underneath the millions of stars and the pretty round white moon that kind of looks like a piece of those white gumballs you'd see in the candy machines in the stores where you have to pay a quarter to get one out.

You like day time, but you like night time best. You wish you could stay up all night like the night time animals do and watch the moon all the time. You like the moon and its changing shape every day. One day it'll look like one of her chewed off finger nails and another time it'll be as round and full as a white gumball candy. You don't like gum or those gumball candies, but you love the moon, and you always look at it, wondering if there's a magical fairy kingdom there where Princess Kaguya lives now. There could be lots of nice aliens on there-maybe aliens shaped like cats! You'd love that!-who would love her and appreciate everything you do, and not yell at you or get angry over stupid things. Maybe there'll be lots of flowers and sunny skies and pink clouds and even a Moomin house, like in Moominvalley where her favorite Moomins live.

You could draw anything and everything every day, and your dad would give you a nice big kiss on your cheek and call you his little Salvador Dali, even though you have no idea who or what Dali is. You could dress up as a cat all you like and pretend to be a cat and the magical moon fairy kitty aliens would do the same. You'd watch Moomins and Maple Town all the time, pretend to be superheroes saving the world from great evil, play on the swing for hours and hours even when it's time for bed, and just be happy. You'd draw the kitty alien fairy people and their spaceship which you think must have dropped you on this odd planet by accident. If you want, you could take your parents and siblings there, too, and they'd be just as happy as you are. There'd be no fighting, no drama, nothing silly like that.

You'll be a cat alien, draw every day, and watch Moomins every day, you decide. You don't really like the normal people you're surrounded by, and you're not missing out on that secret club they have where everyone else goes to learn how to be a normal person. It's probably no fun. You bet it's boring compared to being a cat.


	20. You Did This!

Chapter 19: You did this! Why does everyone hate each other?!

Lots of very shiny, well maintained car models sat on a little shelf in a man's house. A steel black 1938 Cadillac Fleetwood V16, a dark gold 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass SX, a crimson red Mini Cooper, a lime green 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII, among many others. The bald, bespectacled, middle aged man in a white work shirt, black work pants, and brown leather boots examined the cars on the shelf attached to his wall with curious, dull, dirty brown eyes, examining every minute detail on them. There's not one little spec of dust on them as far as the eye could see. He straightened the black silk tie dangling on his shirt, with cars of many colors printed on them. He looked at the old grandfather clock next to the shelf, seeing that it's almost 8:00 AM. It's almost time for work.

As he stood in front of the coffee maker in his kitchen waiting for the coffee to be ready, a frazzled woman in her late forties hopped into the room. Her blonde hair is frizzy and drained looking, streaming down to her shoulders, with dull brown eyes just like her husband's. She's wearing a black suit jacket and pants, a purple tank top underneath, and black shoes. "I can't be late for the meeting, honey. You'll have to drop the kids off at school today," The woman said before dropping a kiss on her husband's cheek. Then she saw his car themed tie and made a slightly contorted, uninterested face. "You're not going to wear that tie to work, are you? Not one of my favorites."

'_Of course it's not one of your favorites. Why do you care?'_ The man thought bitterly as his wife ran off to whatever meeting she's going to.

"I'll be back by noon!" She called out before dashing through the door, leaving the man alone with his coffee maker, which stopped simmering. The coffee is ready. He grabbed a mug and poured some coffee in it. A moody, sullen-looking boy of about sixteen years old with frizzy, spiky black hair came into the kitchen to grab a cereal box and a bowl out of one of the cupboards. He then grabbed a carton of milk to pour into the cereal. He went into the dining room and proceeded to eat his cereal. He said nothing as he chewed on every piece of cereal he consumed. The man walked into the dining room sipping his mug of coffee, noticing the boy finishing up his cereal.

"How are you feeling today?" The man asked. The boy said nothing, but the man continued. "If you want, I'd be more than happy to help you study for your history test."

In a flash of anger, the boy slammed his spoon on the dining room table. "I'd rather eat poison than have you help me with anything!" After that, he grabbed his black book bag and darted out the door right before slamming it so hard it made his father grimace. The man looked down at the dining room floor with a dejected look on his face, his glasses gleaming grimly under the morning sunlight.

'_At least he's upfront about it, unlike everyone else,'_ The man thought as he finished his coffee. After that, he went upstairs. He came in front of a door with a flashy, decorative sign glued to it that said _'Karin's Room! KEEP OUT!'_ in multicolored foam letters. Disobeying the very clear and upfront rule of the sign, the man opened the door to his daughter's room. He found a girl of about thirteen with blonde hair in a curly ponytail sitting on her very messy bed, playing with her cell phone and doing God knows what on it. The girl looked up and grimaced like she saw something disgusting. The man examined the room. It looked like a robber had gotten in and wrecked the place. There are clothes scattered and strung everywhere, from the closet door to the window overlooking the backyard. Socks, underwear, bras, glittery outfits, lipstick bottles, lipstick caps, make up products, everything you could think of is scattered all over the place. The man facepalmed.

"Get dressed. I have to take you to school. When we get home, you're cleaning up this room. Understand?" The man told her softly but sternly. With a grunt, the girl pushed him out the door and slammed it right in his face. Hanging his head down dejectedly, he walked out of the room. Thankfully, the girl came out fully dressed and ready for school, but she still kept her scornful look, like she hated being around her dad.

"You're such a killjoy," The girl said as she got in the car with him. It didn't take long to arrive at her school, Hikaribashi Middle School. He tried to say "Have a good day," but she was already out before he could finish his sentence. Not only that, she slammed the car door quite hard, like she was dying to get the heck away from her father and hang out with her friends. Then he saw his daughter talking with her friends in a gossipy way and laughing. His first thought was: 'Are they talking about me?' But the kids went into the school building right as that thought entered his head. With that, he went home.

His entire being felt weighed down, like he had a huge pile of bricks duct taped to him. He slowly ambled to the living room, picking up a picture featuring him and his family, including a little six year old boy with massively curly light brown hair and stunning blue eyes that seemed to radiate light. The picture frame is light, but to the man, it felt heavier than a brick, and the frame rubbing against his skin felt like it was burning him to the touch. He rubbed his exasperated face with his hand, wishing the memories of that awful day would go away, that it was all an illusion. But it wasn't. It was real.

That fateful day, a sinkhole appeared in the ship of their house, causing water to rise between every single one of them. The water was especially wide between him and everyone else he loved. He wished he could put the plug back in, but he could drown if he did that. It wasn't like the water would drown the resentment he knows his family continue to hold toward him. In fact, his teenaged son didn't seem to want to hide any of his resentment. He saw it all: the car breaking down on a busy road, his youngest son complaining that it's taking too long, going outside on the street to play around and pass the time even as he told him no. He heard the _BEEEEP_ of the car coming right toward him, his own voice screaming _"GET BACK IN THE CAR, HIDENORI! GET BACK IN THE CAR NOW!"_ his eyes wide with fear, the crash noise, his son's battered corpse sitting underneath the totaled Mercedez Benz with shards of broken glass protruding from various places like his chubby little arms and legs, the doctor telling him that they couldn't save Hidenori, his wife falling to her knees and bawling hysterically, his son punching the hospital wall in frustration with a yell, his daughter looking away while crying silently, their suddenly forgetting about Hidenori after all these months...how could they forget? How could they move on like that?

The man wished he never went on that car ride with Hidenori that day. If they had stayed home, he'd still be alive. He'd still be lighting everything and everyone up with his carefree, cheery smile. His death wouldn't have made that sinkhole that let all the water in, driving everyone away from each other.

* * *

"A soup kitchen?" Anzu asked one day in homeroom, flanked by Marina, Riko, and Fukiko as Kyoya told them about some of the volunteer work his mother does.

"Yeah. My mom usually works at Citizen's Bank, but during the day she gives out food to the homeless at this place the church runs called Free Food Frenzy. I usually help out during the summer, but it's open all year long. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to stop by tomorrow after school," Kyoya explained matter-of-factly.

"I've never been to one of those before," Fukiko said a little shyly, clutching her copy of a glittery magazine called _Pika*Pika Pretty Boy_ tightly.

"I wouldn't mind going. Heck, I wouldn't mind volunteering even. Maybe it'd help me with my anger issues somewhat. I have karate lessons today so I can't go, but tomorrow will work for me," Marina said, intertwining her own fingers together and putting them behind her head like she's sitting back and relaxing, only she's standing instead.

"I'll have to ask my parents. They usually tell me to stay away from homeless people. I don't know why. I think it's because they think all homeless people are mean or drug addicts, but I don't think so," Riko said.

"No, they're not all mean or drug addicts. I've met a lot of them and they're actually really nice and friendly. You do have to be careful around some of them, though," Kyoya said.

"My mom is always on my back about doing more for the community, so I wouldn't mind checking it out. Maybe it'll be fun," Fukiko said with a smile this time, feeling a little more relaxed.

"I have nothing better to do, so I'll check it out," Anzu piped in with a smile. The atmosphere around them seemed pleasant and uplifting until a certain someone and her clique ruined it.

"You're going to hang out with a bunch of hobos?" The kids turned around to find Yoshie flanked by her usual gal pals Toshiko and Shizuka, staring at them with a scornful, disgusted look on her face like she stepped on dog droppings. "They're, like, so gross! Not only that, they have absolutely no place in this world. But then again, it's not like any of you have any place in this world either," Yoshie told them condescendingly. Her two gal pals giggled at the callous comment.

"Oh, shut up, Inoue! You don't have a right to decide that stuff!" Marina snapped.

"Yeah!" Fukiko added.

"I'm disappointed in you, Dounowaki. You used to be cool. Now you're hanging out with the loser league? They're gonna make you look bad and turn you into a retard," Yoshie said.

"At least they're nice, unlike you! You're the one who's gonna make me look bad!" Fukiko retorted without losing a beat.

"Ohhh. Nice one," Anzu agreed, leaving Yoshie and her clique flabbergasted.

She crossed her spindly little arms and flipped her pigtails around. "Whatever. It's not like I'm interested in anything you and the worthless lowlifes do anyway."

"And we're not interested in brainless, shallow, idiot mean girls who strut around thinking they're all that and feel like they have to step on everyone in order to be popular!" Marina exclaimed. Yoshie could feel a vein pop in her head, but not wanting to get in trouble with the teacher, she kept her mouth shut. But oh, how she yearned to sock that scar faced criminal spawn so hard in the mouth it'd wake up her dentist!

The school day went by without incident or difficulty, but Riko felt a looming sense of dread when her math teacher-Mr. Ikari-told them about a very important math test coming up, telling the kids that they really need to study and go over everything they've learned so they can pass. Riko made a mental note to study for it when she got home. When Arinao picked her up from school this time, Riko asked him and Saki if they could go to Free Food Frenzy after school tomorrow. She expected them to say no, since she seems to think they don't like homeless people. But much to her surprise, they said yes!

"I don't see why not. Maybe you can actually give them soup. This'll be a good learning experience for you," Arinao reasoned with a bright smile on his face. "Plus, your friends will be there too, so I'm sure you'll be fine. But you have to stay with them at all times and not talk to strangers, okay?"

"I promise!" Riko told them happily.

"We'll pick you up at about 5:00 PM tomorrow so you won't miss dinner. Is that alright?" Saki said.

Riko nodded vigorously. "That's fine!" As soon as she heard it, she raced to the phone so she could call Kyoya, but she stopped upon realizing he probably has physical therapy today, so she put the phone down. She figured she could tell him tomorrow at school.

That's exactly what she did. Kyoya said his parents will pick him and Riko up so they can take them. Another school day went by without incident, and Jiroemon picked the kids up. It isn't far from the school. The soup kitchen-Free Food Frenzy-is a relatively average sized red brick building with lots of windows, with huge flocks of homeless people waiting outside in lines. The inside of it certainly looked very new and well maintained, with lots of people in the kitchen preparing all kinds of food for homeless people, like hot soup, which was the most common. The kids sans Kyoya couldn't believe how many homeless people there are. They never saw so many in one place before. Some of them looked like normal people you find on the street with clean clothes, and some looked so dirty and unkempt that they looked like they lived underneath dirt for decades, completely with missing or yellow teeth, tattered clothes, body odor, unkempt hair and beards, and even dirty hands and feet. One person was wearing nothing but tattered jeans. No shoes, no shirt, nothing else. But they let him in as well. Riko glanced to her right and saw two girls-one girl with long, low, black pigtails who looked like she should be in high school, and another one about her own age with short hair (longer than Riko's) who clung to the older one's arm tightly, looking very frightened and tired. She had to wonder if they were sisters. They certainly looked like it.

The kids decided to help out by pouring soup into bowls and passing them out onto the tables. It wasn't as hard as some of the kids expected, but Riko and Fukiko had a bit of trouble even so much as approaching some people, mostly because they looked at them with scary faces or looked like they'd hurt them. But they squelched their uncomfortable feelings of fear and went through with it anyway. Some said thank you while others scarfed down their food right off, like they hadn't eaten in years. Riko felt grateful for having a house and parents who care about her, but her heart did go out to these people, wishing she could do so much more for them. But what could she do, other than pass out food? She wished her Pretty Cure powers could magically give everybody homes and food and all of those things, but she knew that isn't possible. Anime and manga aren't like real life. She learned that the hard way. However, she bumped into one homeless person, and unbeknownst to her, one of her Moomin books fell out of her purse. A man wearing a red scarf, a dark blue hat, and a heavy, tattered beige jacket picked it up.

All of a sudden, Anzu dashed into the bathroom like the house was on fire. She pummeled through the door and the sound of extremely heavy vomiting caught the ears of many people, including Riko, who went inside to see what was up. It didn't last too long, as the sound faded as soon as the short haired girl came into the bathroom. A tired, pale faced Anzu came out of one of the bathroom stalls after she flushed the toilet in which she blew her chunks in. "Uuuugh…"

"You sound really sick. You're pale, too. Do you want to go home?" Riko asked with concern peppering her voice.

"No. It's fine. But I admit, I've been puking a heck of a lot more lately. I don't like it," Anzu said as she sat down on a chair.

"I'll ask Kayoko-san if she has a bottle of water. Wait here, okay?" Riko said as she dashed to find Kayoko. It didn't take her long to find her. "Kayoko-san? Are there any water bottles around?"

"They're over in the corner, sweetie," Kayoko said, pointing to a corner of the room where some bottles of water stood. Riko said thanks, grabbed one, and gave it to Anzu. The pale faced, bespectacled, blonde haired girl wasted no time in gulping down some fresh water. However, Riko hear footsteps approaching them.

"Umm...excuse me…" The girls turned around to find a very old homeless man who looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, with a very shriveled up, wrinkled face, donning a thin but long beard that went down to the bottom of his neck. His head is covered by a dark blue snow hat, he's wearing a crimson red scarf, a large beige jacket, tattered black pants, fingerless black gloves, and soft brown shoes.

"Is something wrong?" Riko asked.

The bearded old man pulled out a Moomin book and handed it to Riko. "You dropped this just a few minutes ago."

"Ahhh! My Moominland Midwinter book!" Riko exclaimed as she took the book from the man's hands. "I can't believe I never noticed! Thanks so much, mister...uhh...what's your name?" She yelped gratefully, but became flummoxed upon realizing she doesn't know his name.

The old man smiled. "Call me Takayuki."

"Thank you so much, Takayuki-san!"

"You're welcome. My children used to watch the anime a lot when I was younger."

Riko's emerald eyes suddenly lit up, making her face look like a radiant sunshine, which made the man smile further. "Really!? Really really really?! Wait! Which one? New Moomin or Fun Family Moomin? I know there's three anime, but I only watched the nineties one!"

"The first one you mentioned. I haven't seen the other one, but I hear it's quite popular. Whenever I would tuck my children in bed they'd always ask me to read the books to them as a bedtime story," Takayuki told her kindly with a hearty laugh. Riko felt her heart go aglow with happiness. Someone else who likes Moomin! Then again, she lent Kyoya one of her books, but he said he hasn't decided whether he likes it yet, so she let him borrow one of her other books today.

"My Mom did too! That's how I got into them! She even showed me the anime! I have all the DVDs and all the books! I wanna see the other anime versions, but they don't make DVDs for it."

Soon, Riko and Takayuki fell far into their hearty and joyful conversation about Moomins. Anzu smiled upon seeing those two light up upon finding a mutual interest. It didn't look like Riko ever had conversations like these very often, so she figured she treats them like a holy treat. Anzu was happy for her regardless. Later on, Riko had to get called back to the kitchen to give out more soup, so they had to stop. But she's happy she found a new friend, even if he's much older than her, and less fortunate.

Just outside the soup kitchen is the man from earlier. He's just walking down the sidewalk, his shoulders hunched like he had to endure a very exhausting evening. He kept staring down at his feet, not bothering to look ahead of him. As he walked by, Takayuki came out and noticed how somber he looked. Feeling a pang of concern spring forth in his heart, he gently approached the man and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, sir? You look upset," Takayuki asked kindly, in a soft but gravely voice. But as soon as the man made eye contact with Takayuki, his dull brown eyes suddenly widened like he saw something he didn't want to see. Takayuki said nothing, but in this man's mind, Takayuki was laughing at him, probably laughing at how pathetic he and how he can't even keep his own family together. All of a sudden, the man roared and attempted to punch Takayuki, but the latter managed to evade him and run back into the soup kitchen. Unsatisfied, the man stomped away.

The man's anger didn't simmer. He just kept on stomping and yelling at himself. "Why do they do it to me?! They always do it to me! They're never gonna listen to me!" All of a sudden, he found a brick wall and suddenly found himself banging on it like he was beating someone up. He didn't care if the brick wall hurt his hands, leaving red scratches and marks on his skin causing it to peel off. He needed something to punch, kick, and yell at. Why not this brick wall? It isn't doing anything to anyone, and it can't talk back to him, call him names, or laugh at him like everyone else does. He kept roaring and bellowing as he punched the brick wall over and over again until he couldn't do it anymore. He found himself panting and heaving like he ran a marathon.

"Umm...are you alright, sir?" He turned around to find a girl with black hair tied in a braid with a blue ribbon and blue eyes standing behind him. Those same ocean blue eyes are an ocean of concern and pity for the tired man. But instead of seeing a sympathetic high schooler, he saw a catty, gossipy girl laughing at him and his pathetic existence, just like everyone else. She isn't laughing, but he thinks she is. Perhaps the whole world is laughing at him and his worthless existence. But not wanting to make a scene, the man just stomped away, not feeling satisfied, even after punching the wall, leaving behind a confused and flummoxed Hotaru.

However, the man didn't get very far, as he suddenly bumped into someone else. He bumped into this person so hard he knocked them over, causing the person to fall on his rear. The man opened his eyes to find a very odd person in front of him. A young, pale skinned, spindly teenager with bloody red eyes, silver hair like starlight, and dressed in what appears to be some kind of costume: black pants, a pale brown vest, a short sleeved black shirt, a pale purple neck ruffle, a crimson red cape, and very tall, crimson red shoes that went all the way up to his knees. "I'm sorry!" The man apologized profusely, but it seems his heartfelt apology did not register to this silver haired boy. In fact, his cherry red eyes are literally oozing bloodlust and rancor.

"You're gonna pay for bumping into ME, you pathetic, worthless piece of TRASH!" The silver haired boy screamed in his highest voice possible as he shot a ball of energy at the bewildered and flabbergasted man, sending him rolling on the concrete street, exposing his Soul Portal. As soon as it got exposed, Zenjin wasted no time sticking his face in there, causing the man to scream and wail in excruciating pain.

"SOMEONE HELP MEEEEE!" The man screamed for his life as his body burned like it was completely on fire. No amount of words could describe the intense, inhuman pain the man is experiencing as Zenjin rummaged through his Soul Portal. Soon, Zenjin pulled his face out, unaware that a homeless man witnessed the scene and ran away.

"You think you're suffering?! Ha! Everything I saw in there is absolutely nothing compared to the gravity of my pain! Let me be the one to show you that my suffering is far greater than yours will ever be!" Zenjin roared angrily as he stuck his hand in the man's Soul Portal and yanked it right out. But before he could corrupt it, a shower of glowing stars rained down on him, causing him to drop the orb. As the shower of stars finally faded, Zenjin collected himself to find Cure Starlight standing in a battle stance, ready to kick his butt.

"Your treachery ends here, you knave!" Cure Starlight edicted boldly, pointing a finger at Zenjin like a lawyer in a courtroom outing the prosecution.

* * *

"Help! Someone help! A man is being attacked!" Takayuki ran into the soup kitchen flailing his arms and screaming, his eyes wide with fear and concern. One of the women who served the soup approached him and put her hands on his shoulders to sit him down.

"Calm down, Takayuki-san. Calm down. Tell me what happened," The woman said.

"This man got attacked by a little young'un with silver hair and a red cape, like a costume! But this young'un isn't no normal kid! He shot a ball of light at the man!" Takayuki exclaimed. He suddenly grabbed the woman's arm tightly. "You gotta call 119! I saw the whole thing! That man might still be getting hurt! Someone's gotta stop that kid!"

Just hearing this was enough to convince Riko, Anzu, and Marina to run out of the soup kitchen like it was on fire. Good thing they kept their Heart Lighters with them. Back on the street, Cure Starlight and Zenjin fought over the orb like a pair of bratty siblings fighting over a new toy, desperately trying to grab it for differing reasons; Cure Starlight to put it back in the man's Soul Portal, Zenjin to corrupt it and make it wreak havoc all over Hikaribashi. Unfortunately for Cure Starlight, Zenjin shot an energy blast at her, causing her to fly into the wall of another building. The commotion outside caused a lot of people to come out and observe the scene.

"Go crazy, Human Trash!" Zenjin held the orb in the air and allowed it to turn purple. Then it grew bigger and bigger until it morphed into a coal black, red eyed cobra. This convinced everyone to run for their lives, especially since it started slithering on the street right off, as if it were going somewhere.

"Cure Starlight!" Riko's voice called out. Cure Starlight pried herself off the building to find Cures Dawn, Dusk, and Twilight running to her aid. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked with concern.

"Sort of. Zenjin did a bit of a number on me," Cure Starlight croaked weakly.

"Where's that cobra going?" Cure Dawn asked.

"Dunno, but wherever it's going, we gotta stop it! I'm going in first!" Cure Dusk was the first to leap into action. She pulled out her bow and arrow. "Fiery Dusk Arrow!" Cure Dusk launched a few flaming arrows at the black cobra. But not only did they not leave any scratches or burns at all, the cobra kept slithering at its own pace, acting like it never even noticed them at all. It probably didn't even feel them. But the Pretty Cure kept running after it, much to Zenjin's chagrin.

"Hey! Let that thing do what it wants, you trash!" Zenjin yelled as he flew in the air to give chase to the quartet of girls and the black cobra.

"Twilight Serenade!"

"Starlight Shower!"

"Dawn Flame!"

"Mandarin Dusk Inferno!"

The girls combined all of their attacks to see if it'd do anything on the cobra. But again, no scratches or burns. The cobra didn't stop one bit. The girls couldn't believe it. "That thing didn't even flinch!" Cure Dusk screamed with horror, completely flabbergasted at the fact that absolutely none of their attacks are working on this thing. They didn't even stop it from moving. The cobra seemed to ignore them and kept going into town. They're happy it's not attacking anything right now, but it's only a matter of time. Not only that, it seems to be moving toward a particular place, so it must have some kind of objective that it wants to attack. The girls decided to follow it for now, using the wings on their shoes.

It took them a short while to figure out where the cobra is going. It's approaching a reasonably large, pale green house that looked like it belonged to a family. As soon as the cobra zoomed in on it, it smacked the roof with its long, thick tail, completely knocking off the roof, exposing everything inside the house, including a woman and her two kids-a boy and a girl, both teenagers. The mother and her kids wasted absolutely no time screaming and running out of their house. But the cobra also wasted no time in coiling its tail around all three of them and holding them in the air. This prompted the girls to try punching and kicking the cobra into letting them go, but the giant snake isn't relenting one bit.

"Let us go, you giant snake!" The teenage boy screamed as he banged on the cobra with his free arm. His little sister cried hysterically while his mother tried to beat the snake as well.

"This thing's tough! It's not responding to any of our attacks!" Cure Dawn exclaimed.

"_Hidenori! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't save you!"_ The cobra yelled somberly, facing the mother and her two kids with its eyes glowing a bloody red.

"Hidenori?! That's our dead son's name!" The wife suddenly exclaimed. Then a revelation hit her like a freight train. "No! Takehiro?!"

"This giant cobra is Dad?!" The girl shouted, unable to believe it. Cures Starlight and Dawn punched the cobra's tail coiling around the mother and two kids. Finally, the cobra felt the pain and released them. They fell into the arms of Cures Twilight and Dusk, who later set them back down on the street.

"Thank you," The mother said. She then turned to the girl. "Karin! Takeshi! Get as far away from here as you can!" She demanded. Karin wasted no time dashing from the scene, but the sullen boy, Takeshi, remained where he was. The mother didn't have time to yell at him as the cobra-or rather, the Corrupt Sentinel of her husband Takehiro-zoomed in on them once again.

"_I should have done this a long time ago!"_ The cobra yelled as it slammed its tail on the street. The Pretty Cure-with the frazzled mother in their arms-wasted no time leaping from the scene to save her from getting squashed like a pancake. Cure Dusk did some back flips before charging at the cobra with her fists consumed by orange flames.

"Flame Fist Fury!" She managed to smack the cobra on its head multiple times with her fiery fists, finally managing to land some hits. Unfortunately, the cobra headbutted her and sent her flying into a tree.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Cure Twilight threw her boomerang at the giant cobra. For once, it managed to not only hit, but leave a huge scratch on it's body, causing it to screech in pain.

"Takehiro! Why are you doing this?!" The woman screamed hysterically, pushing her hands through her stringy hair.

"_Because I know you blame me!"_ The cobra bellowed as it tried to zoom in and eat her, but Cure Dawn leaped into the air and slammed her nunchucks on its face, knocking it onto the street.

"Blame you?" The woman wished none of this was real. Cure Dusk began firing Dusk Medley at its face, keeping it from doing anything more. Then something else hit the woman: he said Hidenori. Hidenori is their son who died. The funeral flashed through her mind, the memory of falling to her knees in the hospital, her husband walking around in a daze for months right afterward, no longer himself.

"_How could you forget him so easily?!"_ The cobra bellowed as Cure Starlight landed a kick to his vertebrae. The woman's eyes grew big with shock.

"You think we forgot?! I cry over him every day!" The woman yelled.

"What's all this about?!" Cure Twilight asked as she punched the cobra is the jaw.

"_I see the way you all look at me! I know what you all say about me! You say I let him die on purpose! I didn't mean for him to die! I tried to save him! He wouldn't go in the car! He was bored!"_ The cobra bellowed sadly, looking almost tearful, as Cure Dawn unleashed another flurry of punches and kicks on it's front side, but it wasn't enough to knock him down. The girls tried an all-out attack, but the cobra swatted them all away with his tail like they were annoying house flies.

"I don't blame you for what happened, Takehiro!" The woman cried out pleadingly. Takeshi turned to look at her like he just witnessed her doing something he never expected her to do. The shock on his face was unmistakable. But twinges of hatred began trickling into his sullen face.

"_Don't lie to me! You think I let my son die!"_ The cobra yelled as it tried to bite Cure Twilight, but she used her cat claws to keep the cobra's mouth open as she stood inside it. But the noisome scent of its breath made her want to puke. How horrible it was! But she knew this isn't the time for complaining about a cobra's smelly breath.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Takeshi suddenly shouted loud and clear for everyone around him to hear, even his own mother, whose eyes became wide with even more bewilderment. The teenaged boy appeared in front of the cobra, his bloodshot eyes blazing with undiluted, unadulterated rancor. "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU HAD HIM AND YOU LET HIM DIE! I wasn't there, Karin wasn't there, Mom wasn't there, you were! You killed him!"

The woman suddenly ran to her son and put her hands on his shoulders. "Takeshi! Enough! Go find Karin! This isn't the time for that right now!"

"You know it and I know it, Mom! He let Hidenori die because he was too stupid to care!" Takeshi yelled. On impulse, Cure Twilight flew out of the cobra's mouth, allowing for an opportunity for Cure Starlight to slash it with her naginata. The purple cat eared girl hopped toward the bickering mother and son with a matter of fact look on her face.

"Sorry about this, but he just said your brother ran out of the car by himself. I'm sure he tried his best to stop him. It's not like he wanted him to die-" Cure Twilight told him in a calm, matter of fact voice, hoping he'd get the message and shrug off his irrational delusions. But this only seemed to exacerbate his already exploding temper. Takeshi suddenly struck Cure Twilight so hard across the face she fell on her rear end, drawing blood from her nose.

"Stay out of our business, you idiot! Don't act like you know Dad like I do! Only _I_ know him, and I _KNOW_ that he _KILLED_ Hidenori! It's his fault and he knows it! He can go off himself for all I care! He deserves to go to H-" Takeshi screamed at poor, hapless, frightened Riko, not caring about the fact that she's just a scared little girl. Before long, his mother donned a stern look and slapped her irrational son across the face to make him stop yelling at the poor girl.

"Stop that right now, Takeshi! Don't take it out on her, and don't make Takehiro out to be some kind of heartless monster! It's not like he wanted Hidenori to die!" The woman scolded without any sugar coating, leaving her frazzled son speechless. "You weren't there when the accident happened! It was just a freak thing! Accidents happen! Things happen that we can't control! She doesn't know Takehiro like we do, but you're no better than she is! Instead of heaping all the blame on him and acting like he's some heartless mother who doesn't care, try seeing it from his point of view for once! How would you like it if something happened to Karin in front of you and everyone blamed you for it?! You wouldn't like that, now would you?! He has feelings too, y'know! Besides, Hidenori didn't know better than to stay out of the street when cars are coming!"

For the first time ever, Takeshi couldn't contradict her. He oh so badly wanted to contradict her. But he just couldn't. She had good points, even though he wanted nothing more than to deny them and continue holding Hidenori's death over Takehiro's head for the rest of his life. Hidenori died under Takehiro's watch. He should have kept him on a leash. He should have watched him better. He needs to take responsibility for what happened! Why should Takeshi feel sorry for him? Takeshi found no reason to have any pity for that pathetic father of his. He could die for all he cared. He wished these super heroes would just leave him to die so he wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Unfortunately for him, his hate filled wishes were not answered.

"Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!" With their combined powers, the cobra finally dissipated and turned back into a glass orb.

"Tch! Those pesky skanks! Why can't they just let it wreck everything already?! Meh, I'm bored," Zenjin sneered before flying away to travel the world once again.

The girls wasted no time putting the glass orb back in Takehiro's Soul Portal and making it back to the soup kitchen in time for Saki to pick Riko up. Once she left, some of the kids continued to help out until Marina had to leave, followed by Hotaru. Anzu was the last to leave. The soup kitchen is quite far from her house on foot, but she didn't mind. She liked watching the leafy green trees rustle in the wind, the squirrels scuttling about looking for acorns to snack on, songbirds twittering their beautiful songs and soaring across the sky with their wings spread out like the songstresses they are, people strolling around walking their dogs or pushing baby strollers, bunnies hopping around without a care in the world. Anzu didn't feel tired by the long walk one bit. There's a lot to see and appreciate when one lives in a rather clean, tree-filled neighborhood like this radiant with the lights of everyone's hearts on a happy day. Not only that, she isn't vomiting like crazy. She still felt pale in the face, and her stomach began to churn yet again, but she tried to ignore it. She didn't want to think about getting sick yet again.

The sky was just on the verge of painting orange splotches on itself when she arrived within the vicinity of her house. She stopped in her tracks, frozen in place, clutching her backpack with a dubious, hesitant expression. She wanted nothing more than to stay outside and do whatever she wanted, not go inside that house and put up with the incessant phone calls, the threatening letters, the slander she and her father have received every day. However, even she knew that she couldn't avoid her own house forever, even if she wanted to, so she gulped and went inside, even though she could feel her stomach churning and lurching. Literally, as soon as she opened that door, the vociferous sound of her father yelling on the phone made her stop in her tracks, her lime green eyes wide with horror.

"Reika! Please, just stop! Leave us alone! You are NOT getting custody of Anzu and that's FINAL! What part of that don't you understand?!" A male voice screamed hysterically at the top of his voice, freezing Anzu further in place. "God, stop with that attitude of yours! You wonder why Anzu hates you! If you keep calling us and sending those letters again, I'm gonna call the police again and apply for a restraining order! GOODBYE!" With that, the man slammed the phone on the counter.

It's here that Anzu felt her stomach bubbling, contents riding up her windpipe like a race car, dying to just fly out. She clamped her hands on her mouth and dashed for the bathroom. When she finally made it, she unlocked her mouth and allowed the contents of her stomach to fly right out of there, right into the toilet. The noisome smell assaulted her nostrils but it was the warm liquids and melted solids coming out of her throat that burned. This went on for about ten minutes, but to Anzu, it felt like she had been vomiting for an eternity. There wasn't a day in the past few years in which she didn't vomit. She wondered if this was all she was ever going to do every single day for the rest of her life. She found her face drowning in sweat, her breath smelling horrible, like dung. Soon, a man in his early forties popped into the bathroom. He has smooth, flat black hair and lime green eyes just like his daughter.

"Anzu-chan! Are you alright, dear?" The man said as he put a hand on Anzu's forehead. It didn't feel warm or feverish, but Anzu's breathing is quite labored as she's panting like she ran a really long marathon. Not only that, her face is white like a ghost. Her father grabbed some toilet paper and dabbed it on her head, allowing it to soak up the sweat. "You'd best get into bed. I'll go get you some water," He told her. Anzu stood up and ambled to her bed, but her legs felt like they had huge chunks of metal thrown into them, making her legs extremely heavy. She plopped into her bed, clutching a black, fuzzy bat plushie with pale purple button eyes.

Soon, the man returned with a glass of water in his hand and handed it to Anzu, who wasted no time gulping it all down like a person who's been in the desert for a long time. "Sorry you had to hear me yell like that," Her father told her apologetically.

"It's not like I haven't heard it before," Anzu muttered. Her father could see the shine in her eyes disappearing and becoming dull, like she'd become weary of life. Her long, blonde hair is now messy, also losing its sheen. "When is this gonna end?"

"I wish I knew, sweetie. I really wish it could end right now, so you wouldn't be so sick like this," Her father told her sadly, feeling bad that he can't fix everything and help his only daughter feel better.

'_It's gonna go on forever. I know how stubborn she is. Once she sets her mind to something, she'll pursue it forever until she gets what she wants. She's been at this for years now. Why can't she just leave us alone?! I want her out of our lives already!'_ Anzu thought grimly as she sipped some more water. She remembered the fights, the arguments, the yelling, their clashing views on how to raise her, their completely opposite ideas on what's allowed and what isn't, their constant disagreements, the cat fights, the times when her mother would smack her with a coat hanger when she wouldn't eat beets, the time her mother yelled at her when she found out about the friends she was hanging out with, saying stuff like "You shouldn't be associating with those worthless, middle class hooligans! How dare you disobey me! I've found friends for you from the same social class as us, and you have the nerve to act like they don't exist in favor of these wastrels!"

She knows she's extremely controlling of everything, and by everything she means EVERYTHING. Her mother basically wants to decide everything in her life, from her style of dress to the types of friends she should have, but none of it is what she (Anzu) wants. Her mother knows nothing about Anzu, except what she feels she wants her to like and be when she's older. Anzu covered her ears, pleading for her mother's annoying voice to get out of her head already.

"I'll cook one of your favorites tonight. I know how much you love Spanish rice and rotisserie chicken," Her father said.

"Actually...I don't want to eat. If I do, I'll just throw it all up again," Anzu told him sadly, her lime green eyes trembling fearfully. Sympathetically, yearning to scoop Anzu in his arms and fix everything for her so she can be happy, her father put his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"I know this has been hard on you, Anzu-chan. I'm sorry all of this is happening. If I had a magic wand, I could make her disappear so she wouldn't bother you anymore. But you need to eat, or you'll be sicker than you already are. Tomorrow I'll call the doctor and arrange for an appointment. I can't stand seeing you vomit all the time, and I know you hate it too," Her father told her softly and reassuringly, but she could tell that traces of rue and doubt are peppering his kind voice. Despite this, she smiled. At least she's lucky he loves her and lets her do whatever she wants, and is completely okay with everything she does, just so long as she's careful and stays on the right path.

As reluctant as she is to eat, she conceded defeat and wound up consuming the dinner her father made, which is definitely as delicious as usual. "By the way, I never got to ask. Did you have fun with your friends that time when my car broke down?"

"Yep. I should introduce you to them some day. They're really nice. I think you'll like them," Anzu said as she ate a dollop of Spanish rice.

"Feel free to have them over sometime when I'm not at work," Her father said with a sweet smile. "It has to be better than putting up with that crazy ex-wife of mine."

"It sure is," Anzu agreed as she took a bite out of some warm, soft rotisserie chicken. In her hesitant but proud little heart, she dearly yearned for the day in which she would stop vomiting so much and finally be able to live out her days happy and peaceful, without putting up with her overly controlling and hysterical mother.

Unfortunately for Anzu, it only got worse.


	21. Anzu's Sorrow! Divorce Makes You Vomit!

Chapter 20: Anzu's Sorrow! Divorce Makes You Vomit!

The night sky was quite a dark one, with nary a twinkling star in sight. Only huge, thick rolls of clouds covered the night sky, making it a lot darker than it should be. It certainly didn't help Anzu sleep very well. She kept tossing and turning underneath the blue and white comforter of her bed, clutching her black bat plushie like she wanted it to come to life and save her. Moans and groans escaped her mouth as she rolled around helplessly, dying to sleep and rid her mind of painful images, memories, and voices that are plaguing her mind, unwilling to leave no matter how much she yelled at them. It doesn't help that her face is drowning in sweat, and she felt warm every time she tossed and turned.

(dream)

_In her soft, orange pajamas, Anzu ran in a dark void like her house was on fire, her lime green eyes wide and filled to the very brim with naked horror and fear. She ran like she was running a marathon, hoping to get out of this pitch black, dismal, empty void. Suddenly, a light flashed brightly a little ways away, morphing into her father. She didn't stop running, but as soon as her lime green eyes fixated on her father's smooth black hair, his soft, gentle lime green eyes, and his sweet smile, she could feel a smile of her own being painted on her pale face._

"_DAD!" She yelled as she tried to sprint toward him like she never did before. She could leap on him, embrace him, and they could make plans to do fun things together like they always would. Unfortunately, Anzu would be bereaved of the opportunity to embrace him, or even to touch him, as she felt a strong grip on her arm. A tight, iron grip whose sharp, meticulously painted finger nails dug into the skin of her arm, causing the blonde, bespectacled girl to grimace in pain. "Ow!"_

_She turned around and her eyes drowned in horror again. A skinny woman dressed in a brownish beige business shirt, a medium length skirt, radiantly curly blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and black high heels gripped Anzu like she was dying to drag her away from whoever or whatever it is she wanted to run to. To the regular person, she was basically just another hard working woman. But to Anzu, she was the worst thing to ever happen to her, and she struggled to pry the woman's hand off of her arm._

"_Let me go! I'm not going with you no matter what!" Anzu screamed hysterically as she tried desperately to yank the woman's arm off of her, but nothing worked. It's like her arm was duct taped or super glued to it, planting its roots in there so she could never be ripped off. It definitely doesn't help that the woman has a very austere, stone faced look on her face, completely off setting her extremely shiny red lipstick._

"_Anzu!" Her father yelled sadly._

"_You don't get to decide that. The court has granted me full custody of you, so your words mean absolutely nothing. You should be happy you get to finally be with your mother! That man has obviously poisoned your mind! This will be the perfect antidote!" The woman exclaimed in a stern, icy voice as she tried to drag Anzu away. "Come along now, you brat! I've already picked out the most perfect dresses for you! I've even transferred you to a very prestigious private school where you can learn manners and grow up to be a proper, better behaved young lady, just like I've always wanted!"_

"_NOOO!" Anzu screamed for dear life as she tried to yank the woman's arm off of her to no avail. She even tried kicking her mother, but her legs just seemed to go right through her, like she was a ghost._

"_Anzu! ANZUUU!" Her dad chased after her, but he tripped and the black void beneath him suddenly swallowed him up, causing him to drown in darkness._

"_DAAAAD!" Anzu cried for him to come back, but he didn't. All of a sudden, a white light flashed and suddenly consumed everything._

(end dream)

With a start, Anzu loudly wakes, in the dismal, dark, cloudy gloom of six in the morning, and knows why she doesn't sleep much these days. Before she could do anything else, her stomach churned, and she knew what she had to do. She dashed into the bathroom and a torrent of whatever was in her stomach yesterday poured right out into the toilet she stuck her face in.

"Anzu!" Her father appeared in a dark green robe with blue stripes, concern painted all over his face as he kneeled to Anzu's level. Finally, she stopped puking and she pulled her sweaty, pale face out of the toilet rim.

"Uuugh…" Anzu groaned like she had been sick for years.

"I'm definitely calling the doctor today," Her father said. "You've been throwing up all night. It's never gotten this bad before."

"Sorry…"

"What are you sorry for, Anzu? You can't help it when this happens."

"Yeah, but I woke you up."

"Don't worry about that. If you want, you can stay home from school."

Anzu wiped her face with a napkin she pulled from a box next to the bathroom sink. "No. It's fine. I can't miss any days. We have some tests coming up and I can't miss any new material," Anzu said as she threw the crumpled napkin into the trash can.

"But I don't want you to throw up while you're at school."

"I know, but I can't miss school. I'll be fine, Dad."

Her father donned a worried expression. _'She's putting up a front. I know she is. She's pushing herself so hard and ignoring all of her problems to protect her sanity,'_ He thought grimly. Even he noticed that his only daughter is vomiting more and more throughout the day. It's not healthy. If she can't keep food down, she can't get better. But then again, he already knew the answer to why. "Well, we're up now, so I'll cook some breakfast. I want you to eat it so you'll at least have some nutrition in your system," He said as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Again, Anzu didn't want to eat, fearing she'll throw it all up again, but even she knew her day wouldn't go so good if she didn't have even a little bit of a full stomach, so she slowly and scrupulously consumed her breakfast for today, which consisted of strawberry flavored yogurt, a banana, and french toast with maple syrup and butter, just as she likes it. She got herself a glass of water to smooth it all down. _'Please, God. Keep my food in my stomach for once. Please,'_ Anzu thought as she finished her yogurt. When she finished her whole breakfast, she ambled to her room to get dressed. Since the air is getting warmer, she decided to put on a pair of soft black capris with strings dangling from them, a pale blue short sleeved shirt with black flowers drawn on it, white socks, and purple tennis shoes. No black hoodies or bondage pants today. She grabbed her black bookbag and put whatever she needed in it, along with a huge heap of brown paper bags.

Downstairs, her father is on the phone. "Hi, my name is Chino Juunosuke, and I'd like to have an appointment for this week and next. Yes, my daughter's been vomiting a lot, and by a lot I mean almost thirty to forty times a day now. It's been like this for the past week, and I'm scared for her health. Yes? Oh, this Saturday would be perfect. I have an extra day off that day, so I can make it. Yes, 11:00 AM can work. Yes. That's perfect. Thank you. Bye," With that, Juunosuke hung up the phone. After that, he took Anzu in the car and dropped her off at school.

"If you ever feel sick or need to come home, feel free to give me a call and I'll come running, sweetie," Juunosuke told her worriedly.

"Sure," Anzu replied sheepishly.

"Okay. You have a good day."

"You too."

When she got to homeroom, she didn't realize that some of the brown bags she brought with her are protruding out to the point where Riko couldn't help but notice. "Hi, An-chan. Why do you have all of those paper bags? Are they for a science project?"

Anzu scrambled to cram them into her bookbag. "Sorta."

The school day went by just fine, except for the history test and spelling tests they have to take. It's a good thing she studied and that the history test is multiple choice. She answered the questions and spelled the words to the best of her ability, hoping she at least passed somewhat. No vomiting so far. Unfortunately, she felt weary during gym class and had to sit this class out. Not only that, she threw up again, but she managed to get one of her brown bags out just in time. No messes. This didn't stop some kids from laughing at her and gossiping about her from afar, even though Marina and Riko called them out on it. She smiled upon seeing their kind act, happy that they care about her. She even brought a bottle of water with her in case it happened again. She knew that if she vomited too much, she could dehydrate, and she didn't want that happening. She wound up puking again just before lunch, but it was just a small chunk of it this time, not a huge torrent of stomach contents. Kids laughed, Marina or Riko called them out on it, rinse and repeat.

Thankfully for Anzu, the vomiting stopped as lunch came around. She was able to eat her lunch and keep it down. It helped that all she did during recess was either talk to her friends or play her harmonica, both of which set her heart aglow with relief, helping her forget the problems that are plaguing her and her father. She wished she could do all of this forever. It certainly helped her forget, but it didn't stop her stomach from churning some of the time. She wanted to go to the nurse, but she didn't want to miss any classes that might present material for future tests. Plus, she doesn't want to have to make up any more homework. Fortunately, she got to finish the school day. Her father picked her up and they drove home...only to find the phone ringing off the hook. They didn't dare answer it, as they knew who it was who was calling. Grimly, Juunosuke turned on the answering machine.

"_You have 50 new messages and 27 old messages,"_ The answering machine told them in a mechanical, robotic, womanly voice, reporting the many messages left by a single, hysterical woman.

"Juunosuke! You better give me custody of Anzu! She deserves to be raised into a proper young lady, not an emo goth scoundrel-" _Beep._

"Anzu, dear. Please come back to Mommy. That man is poisoning your mind and putting you on the wrong path. You'll have a good future if you-" _Beep._

"Your father's been a terrible influence on you all these years! You're better off with me! Stop being such a disobedient little brat and come to me-" _Beep._

"What have you been teaching her, Juunosuke?! To cut her wrists?! To dye her hair?! To pierce her entire body?! To smoke marijuana or crack like all goths do?! If you keep this up, she'll be an embarrassment to the family, and I can't have that! You're completely unfit to be a father! She deserves better-" _Beep._

None of the hysterical woman's messages got to finish in the time allowed. Juunosuke kept on pressing the delete button. But it didn't stop Anzu from rushing into the bathroom and vomiting yet again, as more messages played and got deleted. The hysterical woman's voice now echoed throughout the room and into Anzu's ears, and not only was she helpless to stop herself from blowing chunks yet again, she was helpless to push Reika's voice out of her ears. Why couldn't she just leave them alone? Anzu knew very well that her mother isn't one to take no for an answer, nor would she listen if someone tried to correct her. No, goths don't cut themselves or do drugs or dye their hair. In fact, if she set her mind to something, she'll completely stick to whatever she wants to do until she's satisfied, even if the people she's hurting tell her to stop. They knew she won't stop, and she definitely won't listen no matter how angry they got at her, if the million phone calls a day and all the troves of letters they receive in the mail every day are any indication. As soon as she stopped puking, she heard Juunosuke grunt and unplug the phone. The calls finally stopped.

"That woman needs to give up. Now," Juunosuke grunted irritably. Anzu could understand why. If anyone had to hear that phone ring all day, every day, for God knows how long, of course they'd be angry. Who wouldn't be? Not only that, there's a huge pile of envelopes on the front of their porch. Juunosuke wasted no time taking a huge clump of them and stuffing them in the trash bag as deep as his arms could push. Her stomach churned yet again.

Is all of this ever going to stop?

* * *

"Is it just me, or has An-chan been absent from school for three days straight already?" Riko asked one day, a few days afterward.

"I know, right? I tried calling her but I didn't get an answer. Her cell phone's off, and she isn't answering her home phone either," Marina said, her usually sullen face and golden eyes donning a worried look. Even Marina found her own worry to be unusual, as she never acts like this unless her mother is involved.

"She has been throwing up a lot, right? She must be so sick she can't come to school," Fukiko piped in worriedly. "My dad's a school nurse at the elementary school, and he told me once that if you vomit too much, your esophagus can get damaged, your gums get their tissue ripped off, and the enamel in your teeth gets destroyed. It's pretty disgusting."

"That can happen?" Riko asked, confused.

"Only if you puke way too much, like, I dunno, thirty or forty times a day?" Marina clarified.

It hit Riko right there. Anzu has been throwing up a lot. Much more so than humanly possible. She made a mental note to ask Starbeam to go to her house and check her out when she gets home. If Anzu's been puking more times than she should, then she must be really sick. She wished there was some way she could help. One thing's for sure: no person should throw up almost thirty to forty times a day. No person should throw up EVER.

"Man, I'm so glad Goth Girl isn't here today!" Toshiko suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere as she looked at a brand new bottle of nail polish she bought recently.

"I know, right? She reeks of puke! I don't want to be caught DEAD near her! She might be contagious!" The dreaded voice of Yoshie agreed.

"She should be expelled for making the school and everybody around her smell like vomit," Shizuka piped in, causing Yoshie and Toshiko to laugh.

"Better yet, she should choke on it!" Yoshie piped in.

A nerve within Riko's system snapped in half, causing her green eyes to blaze with dancing flames of anger and her hands to ball into fists. With gusto, she stomped over to the catty clique of girls and stamped her foot to get their attention. They turned their heads to find Riko standing before their desks. They stared at the choleric Riko with a combination of confusion and scorn.

"What do you want?" Yoshie asked.

"Is there anyone in this world you DON'T talk bad about or make up a bunch of lies about?!" Riko shouted.

"What's it to you, freak!" Shizuka snapped.

"It's not like An-chan WANTS to throw up a lot or does it to annoy you! It's a bodily reaction! Everybody does it some time when they're sick! I'll bet you've done it, too!" Riko snapped back.

"Well, I don't do it nearly thirty to forty times a day! AND I don't make everyone smell bad too!" Yoshie retorted.

"Oooh! Burn!" Toshiko piped in.

"Besides, if you were actually normal, you'd be way better off with us instead of that emo goth girl who cuts her wrists with razors! That's what all emo people do!" Yoshie snapped.

"An-chan's not like that and you know it! You're just too stupid to see that she's a good person! At least she doesn't talk bad about people and spread stupid lies around!" Riko snapped back.

"You're the only stupid kid in this school! In fact, you're the stupidest of them all! Making all those baby noises, crying in class, flapping your hands like a weirdo, and pretending you're living in all those baby cartoons you watch!" Yoshie yelled, prompting the teacher, Mrs. Omori, to step into the fray and nudge them back with her hands.

"Cut it out, girls," Mrs. Omori told them calmly but sternly. She then turned to Yoshie. "Inoue. We do not call names in this school, nor do we belittle people for their faults. If I catch you doing that again, you're getting detention with me for three weeks!"

The clique of girls looked at each other with worried faces. Knowing it was futile to argue with Mrs. Omori, they conceded defeat, sat down at their desks, and kept their mouths shut. Riko wasted no time getting back in her own seat as well. "You were awesome back there, Riko!" Kyoya exalted her with a light pat on the back.

"Hardly anyone stands up to them like that," Fukiko said. "I couldn't do it if my life depended on it."

"All I did was tell her she shouldn't talk bad about people and spread lies about them," Riko said.

"True, but Inoue and her posse are thick-headed numbskulls who hate anyone who isn't in their immediate social circle. They'll never stop spreading stupid rumors and talking smack about people behind their backs," Marina piped in, with cynicism tinting her voice.

"Oh! Riko! Here's your book back," Kyoya said as he pulled out a Moomin book and handed it back to Riko. "I totally see why you like it now! You got me hooked!"

"REALLY?!" Riko suddenly yelped out of nowhere, prompting Mrs. Omori to go "Shh!" Her face red with embarrassment, she slumped back into her seat. Yoshie and her clique giggled under their breath, and failing at doing it at a volume where nobody can hear them.

"Tasogare's so stupid," Shizuka chuckled.

As embarrassing as it was, Riko didn't let their treachery and closed-mindedness deter her. At recess, the only thing she and Kyoya talked about were Moomins. Riko couldn't believe it. He actually likes the books she's lending him! She expected him to totally hate it, as most people these days did without even bothering to watch the anime or read the books because they'll think it's automatically for babies just by glancing at the name or the covers. Kyoya actually knows the names of the characters! He knows how some of the stories go! Riko knew she found a kindred spirit the minute they bonded over _Hinata Sun Child_ last month. Now, Riko was completely sure that Kyoya is the one kindred spirit and friend she'd been dying to have for all the years she's lived.

"Umm...exactly what's Hinata Sun Child about, anyway?" Fukiko asked out of the blue. Riko stopped talking upon hearing this from Fukiko of all people, finding herself confused.

"Why do you want to know? You don't like manga," Riko asked, flummoxed.

"There are some that I read, like _Renai Romance_ and _Dai Dai Daisuki Daisuke_," Fukiko piped in with a soft smile. "Tell me about it. I wouldn't mind checking it out."

"You won't like it. It's about an autistic girl who's a princess whose kingdom is taken over by an evil spirit, and she and some friends from school and her pet unicorn pegasus have to find some magic artifacts to stop him from doing worse things to the world, like erasing the sun and moon. But then she finds out her sister who always wants her to be perfect and not weird is the one that unleashed the evil spirit out of jealousy and lots of cool but dark stuff happens," Riko explained.

"Riko and I both have all nine volumes so far. I hear it's supposed to end at volume 12. I can lend you some of my copies if you like," Kyoya suggested.

"Thanks," Fukiko said with a blush. "I'd like that." Marina flashed a sweet smile upon seeing this. But Riko's expression still looked a bit guarded and dubious. Why would someone like Fukiko want to check out a fantastical, whimsical, sometimes dark, sometimes sweet, out of this world manga like Hinata Sun Child? It's practically out of her league, and Riko knows that _Renai Romance and Dai Dai Daisuki Daisuke_ are both cheesy, romance and melodrama filled shojo mangas. She liked _Dai Dai Daisuki Daisuke_ (but not to the extent she likes Hinata Sun Child), but she couldn't get into _Renai Romance_ if she tried. The premise was contrived, the characters always acted stupid and wouldn't talk to each other when drama sparked, the love triangle was too melodramatic for her to wrap her head around, and the overly glitzy and shojo-y art style just made her feel like she had eye problems.

After recess, the school day went by just fine. But before the bell rang for everyone to go home, they agreed to send one of the fairies out to Anzu's house to see how she's doing, and they'll call if they find out anything. When Riko arrived home, the first thing she did was ask Starbeam to go to Anzu's house to check on her.

"How come? Is something amiss?" Starbeam asked, pulling her head out of Riko's rather large, heavy, and thick copy of _Shine The Light: Loving An Autistic Child_ volume one by Kobe Seiko.

"An-chan hasn't been to school in the last three days, and from what I hear she's gotten sick a lot. We tried calling her but she hasn't been answering. I'm worried. Would it be okay if you flew to her house and paid her a visit? Just to see if she's okay? If you don't want to, that's fine," Riko replied and asked the question as politely as she could. Starbeam put a book mark in the book and shut it.

"Not a problem at all. I'd be more than happy to fly over there and pay her a visit. I'd best get to it. I'll be back soon and report if anything is amiss," Starbeam replied sweetly as she flew out of Riko's window.

"Thanks!" Riko shouted before Starbeam got out of sight. She did look down at her feet with a bit of rue creeping into her heart. _'I'd visit her myself, but I don't think Mom'll let me, and I have my math test to study for,'_ Riko thought as she sat down to go over her math notes in preparation for her upcoming math test.

As for Starbeam, she knew the area where Anzu's house is well, because she's been there lots of times before when searching for Lovebeam. She made sure to fly at a high enough distance from the ground so in case people saw her, they'd assume she was a bird, but low enough so she'll be able to figure out which house is Anzu's. However, she did take a liking to Hikaribashi's many trees, the city's overall cleanliness, the cute little animals like rabbits and squirrels scuttling around all over the place at their heart's content. In a way, it reminded her of Rozaniela, where she would always see animals running around, birds flying and singing their songs, people taking time to clean up trash and keep the meadows and forests and towns clean, all those things.

Unfortunately for Starbeam, those happy thoughts ceased like a candle flame had been blown out as soon as she saw Anzu's house within her vicinity. But it wasn't Anzu's house that suddenly caused her to become worried. No, it would normally be a happy thing to see, since it's normally so big. However, what made Starbeam stop in mid-air is the sight of a large, white truck with a glowing red light on it, with the words _Shining Light Hospital_ painted on the side in black.

An ambulance.

A red flag sprung up in Starbeam's head the minute she discerned the vehicle. If an ambulance is here, then something must be wrong. Horribly wrong. With worry springing in her heart like a newly blossoming plant, Starbeam flitted to the side of the house to find a window, making sure passing paramedics didn't spot her. When she found a window, she peered into it to find a sight she wished she didn't have to see.

Anzu is lying on a stretcher, unconscious, with a small trail of vomit trickling down her cheek and onto her chin. Her ponytail's been undone. A slew of frantic and frazzled paramedics are hooking her up to various machines, like a portable oxygen mask and a blood pressure monitor. A black haired man-who appears to be her father-is pushing his hands through his thin air, with waterfalls of tears pouring down his eyes like a lid had been undone. He's on his knees, sobbing loudly and uncontrollably for all to hear, yelling something like "Please! Save my Anzu! Don't let her die! She's all I have!"

Starbeam looked away. She pulled a notebook and pen out of the star shaped clip on her bow and wrote down the name of the hospital that's on the ambulance. Shining Light Hospital. Once she finished and put them away, she immediately dashed away from the house, flying back to Riko's house as fast as she could. Riko has to hear about this. They all have to. One of their own is sick and is being taken to the hospital. Whatever happened to Anzu, if an ambulance had been called, it must be extremely serious. Riko was right to be worried about Anzu, and in her heart, Starbeam was glad she suggested that she go check on her today, serious and dire as this situation is. However, even though she managed to get far enough away, the ghostly sound of the sirens resounded throughout the air, like a haunting aria being sung in an opera hall.

Finally, she made it back to Riko's house. She flitted through the opening in the window and hopped so hard into Riko's room that she made the girl yelp in fright. "Whoa! Starbeam! You scared the living daylights outta me!"

"Riko-chan! It's terrible! Absolutely terrible!" Starbeam exclaimed worriedly, her face dripping with beads of sweat. She tried to speak, but Riko can tell she's so frazzled and worked up that she can't construct any words.

"Calm down. What happened?" Riko told her. Although she looked curious, in the girl's heart, a seed of worry began to blossom at an alarming rate. If Starbeam's this worried and frazzled, then something must be wrong. Really wrong.

"I journeyed to Anzu's house like you asked of me. But when I got there...I saw an ambulance!" Starbeam blurted out finally.

"An...ambulance?" Riko muttered softly at first. An ambulance? Her first thought was this: _'Something bad happened to An-chan? Is she sick? Is she hurt?'_ The seed of worry exploded into a jungle, the vines growing at an alarming rate, consuming her very being. The first thing she could blurt out was this: "Tell me you wrote down the name of the hospital!" She shouted.

"That, I did!" Starbeam pulled out her little notebook and handed it to Riko. The worried girl looked at the name of the hospital, handed the notebook back to Starbeam, and dashed for the phone. She wasted absolutely no time calling every single one of her friends and telling them everything in the loudest voice she can muster. She's so loud it wound up drawing Arinao into the room once she finished talking to Kyoya.

"Riko? What's all the commotion? You might want to-" Arinao was about to talk to her until Riko cut him off.

"We need to go to Shining Light Hospital!" She shouted even louder this time, confusing Arinao even more.

"A hospital?"

"YES! We need to go there NOW! An-chan's sick! Mari-chan told me she saw an ambulance in front of her house and-and-and-and An-chan being put on a..a...a stretcher thingy!"

"Calm down, Riko," Arinao told her as calmly as he could manage, confused and frazzled as he is by her extremely vociferous shouting.

"NO! Come on! We gotta go NOW!" Riko grabbed his arm and tried to drag him out, but he pulled himself out.

"Let me get my keys and my shoes on first, Riko," Arinao told her calmly before leaving to get his car keys and his shoes. Riko's shouting pulled Saki and Hikage into the kitchen.

"What's all the hubbub?" Hikage asked, confusedly.

"HURRY UP DAD!" Riko shouted.

"Riko! Use your inside voice," Saki told her in a hushed tone, but Riko paid her mother absolutely no heed. Starbeam slipped into Riko's pocket. Soon, Arinao clopped down the stairs.

"Riko and I have to go somewhere, Saki. We'll be back when we can," Arinao told her.

"But dinner's almost ready," Saki said, confused.

"Sorry about that. Riko's friend is in the hospital and she wants to check on her," Arinao explained.

"Come on come on come on come on!" Riko wasted no time dragging her father out of the house by the arm, even though he's quite heavy.

"We'll save you some dinner, okay?" Hikage said to them, but Riko didn't hear him, as she's too wound up about Anzu to think about anything else. Or hear anything that's being said to her.

"I'll call you when we're on our way home. Okay?" Arinao said before closing the door.

As flabbergasted and confused as he is, Arinao wasted no time starting the car and driving for this _Shining Light Hospital_, with Riko furiously bouncing in the back seat. He certainly didn't plan on any of this, but somewhere, in the depths of his heart, a flicker of happiness sparked in his fatherly soul. This is the first time Riko's ever been so furiously compassionate for a friend's welfare, especially since she's never had a friend before coming to this town. No, he knew Riko was compassionate in her own way, but not once did he ever see the day where his own daughter would yell at the top of her lungs and drag him out of the house to go to a hospital just because she's worried about someone she cares about.

'_And they said she was incapable of compassion, empathy, or even feeling emotions at all. I'm so proud of you, Riko. You really are a good child. I never doubted you, even when the world was completely against you. You proved them wrong. I knew you would,'_ Arinao said as he drove on the street. He knows where _Shining Light Hospital_ is. He went there before to have his eyes checked the week before Riko started the 7th grade at Hikaribashi Middle School last month. It helps that the mall that the family goes to is right in the area where the hospital is in.

The parking lot of the hospital isn't as packed as Arinao thought it'd be, as there are quite a few spots to pick from. Arinao and Riko pulled into one and they walked into the large hospital. As soon as she put one foot into the waiting room, Riko covered her ears and kneeled to the floor because the vociferous song of a passionately wailing baby assaulted her ear drums. But despite this, Riko stood back up and walked to the reception desk. "Hi! I'm looking for Chino Anzu. I heard she was taken here," Riko said to the receptionist as Arinao flanked her from behind.

"Are you family?" The woman asked.

"No, but she's my best friend," Riko told her with no minced words.

"I see. The doctors are checking her out right now, so you'd best have a seat," The woman said.

"Hey! Riko!" Marina's voice caught Riko's attention as she turned around to find Marina and Hotaru, along with Moonbeam, Sunbeam, and Lovebeam.

"You got here fast," Riko said.

"We agreed to transform into Pretty Cure for a bit so we could all fly here," Hotaru replied in a low whisper so nobody around them would hear. Riko was about to say something like, _'Why didn't I think of that?'_ but she figured out that if she were absent from the house for an unprecedented amount of time, Arinao and Saki would find out and get worried. Before they could say anything else, a man with dark hair approached Riko with his face a mask completely covered with worry, but he still forced a smile regardless.

"Oh...you wouldn't happen to be Tasogare Riko by any chance, would you?" The man asked in a low, husky voice, like he coughed too much.

Shyly, Riko looked down at her feet. "Y-Yes I am."

"I see. Anzu-chan talks about you every day," The man told her. Soon, Arinao popped onto the scene and the two adults engaged in conversation, freeing Riko. But she froze with surprise. Anzu talks about Riko every day? Based on the nice tone of voice her father used, she probably talked about her in a nice way. Riko found herself smiling, her heart aglow with warmth. Someone actually talks about her to other people in a nice way, not in a mean way, like it always had been. _'Is this what it's like to be...normal?'_ Riko thought, wishing she was more familiar with this strange feeling creeping into her heart. But she shook off those feelings. She doesn't have time to think about those right now.

"So...what happened to An-chan? Is she sick?" Riko asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid so. She stayed home the past few days because she got a little sick. We were going to watch some Doctor Who episodes together until she collapsed in the living room, choking on her vomit," Anzu's father told her with a voice completely consumed with worry.

"Gross," Lovebeam whispered.

After that, all everyone could do was wait. Riko didn't mind waiting so much, but what she did mind is that crying baby that's been wailing ever since she came in, and hasn't stopped. Riko kept her ears covered. Marina, who is normally averse to Riko's odd behaviors, didn't say a word, also finding the baby's incessant crying to be grating and annoying on her ears. Finally, the mother with the bawling baby in her arms got escorted to another room, probably to have her baby checked out. Riko finally uncovered her ears, feeling like the many minutes that already passed can go by a lot easier. Soon, a doctor approached Juunosuke.

"Are you Chino-san?" The doctor asked.

Juunosuke stood up in alarm. "How's Anzu? Is she okay?"

The doctor smiled. "She's alright. What happened was that some chunks of food she swallowed didn't get digested yet, and as it was about to be forced out, it got caught in her airway, causing her to choke. She collapsed from dehydration, so we have her hooked up to an IV."

Juunosuke exhaled a huge sigh of relief and fell to his knees with a huge, unmistakable smile on his face. "Ohhh, thank God!" The girls rejoiced loudly. Riko couldn't resist the urge to squeal and jump up and down, much to the surprise of some onlookers. Marina was so happy she didn't bother to facepalm or scold her.

"We're lucky we managed to save her before things got bad. However, I should let you know that her teeth are starting to show signs of acid erosion. It's when the teeth lose their enamel caused by too much exposure to acid. I recommend you get her to a dentist soon, because if she keeps vomiting the way she does, her teeth will be discolored and lose their strength," The doctor said.

"Yes. I'll work on that. But can we see her?" Juunosuke said.

"Of course. She's in the recovery room. I'll take you there," The doctor said before taking everyone to the recovery room. They arrived within a few minutes, and they found Anzu sitting in a bed in one part of the recovery room obscured by blue curtains. She's wearing a blue and white hospital gown, with her long, blonde hair down, her glasses still covering her swollen lime green eyes, and protruding from one of her arms is an IV tube, connected to a bag hanging from a steel hanger.

"An-chan! You're okay!" Riko was the first to run to her side and trap her in a hug.

"Riko. Give her some space, dear," Arinao told her.

"It's fine, Tasogare-san. In fact, I really need a hug right now," Anzu told him, her voice breaking a little as she relished in her best friend's warm, tight, loving hug. Her head pulsated a little bit, but Riko's hug made Anzu feel secure.

"Anzu...I'm so glad you're okay…" Juunosuke sniveled as more tears trailed down from his eyes.

"Me too, Dad," Anzu muttered softly as Riko released her.

"We came here as soon as we heard the news," Hotaru told her. The fairies popped out and huddled against the blonde, bespectacled girl, taking care not to be noticed by Arinao, Juunosuke, and the doctor. Anzu felt their fluffy bodies rub against her arm, which told her that they're there for her right now. She stroke all of their heads in appreciation, happy that they're offering her their own support.

"We heard you choked on your puke," Riko said.

"Is that what happened?" Anzu asked, her voice croaking a bit. She looked down at the blanket her legs are resting under with a somber, dejected face. "I see…"

"Anzu...this may be rude of us to ask, but...how come it got this bad?" Hotaru asked politely. Juunosuke and the doctor went outside to talk in private.

Anzu gripped the blanket. "Remember when...I said I puked three times a month? Now...it's gotten so much worse. For the past few days, I've been doing it more and more. Like...thirty, forty, maybe fifty times a day."

"Ugh!" Riko yelped. "That much?!"

Anzu nodded grimly.

"How come? Something's gotta be causing it," Marina asked.

"Girls. You'd best give her some space. She might not be ready to-" Arinao was about to tell them to let Anzu have some time to recover until she cut him off.

"No. It's fine. I...I've been dying to talk about this for years now," Anzu said calmly at first, but her voice choked, and before they knew it, her glasses blurred, and warm water began trickling down her face.

"What's wrong, An-chan?" Riko asked softly, with concern peppering her voice.

"A few years ago...my dad filed for divorce against my mom. He didn't like the way she was treating me," Anzu began. "My mom...I don't even acknowledge her as my mom…she's a MAJOR control freak. She wants everything to be absolutely perfect, everything has to go her way, everybody has to be what they want her to be, it's her way or no way, anything you did she didn't approve of-which was basically anything-she'd flip out. God, when Dad had to visit his family for a week, Mom basically threw away everything I loved! My clothes, my comic books, everything! She even tried to make me change schools! She wanted to make me go to some fancy shmancy private school for girls. She kept making me wear all these frilly doll dresses and taking me to all these fancy parties so people could ogle over me! She had me in an iron grip and I couldn't do anything! She wouldn't even let me hang out with my old friends! If I did anything at all, like tell her I didn't like it or wanted to leave, or even so much as glance at a comic book in a store, she'd yell at me or hit me! She always said stuff like, _'Stop that whining, you brat! It's your duty as a member of this family to be a proper lady! That man has been poisoning you for years, and I can't have you bringing shame to the family name! Now I can fix everything he did to you so you can be perfect, and everybody will be happy!'_ But her definition of perfect means I have to do absolutely nothing but wear dresses, always be polite, never talk back, never read comic books, play games, wear what I want, never let me go anywhere I want, it's always what she wants! She wants me to be a socialite when I'm older instead of a theater actress! She wants to parade me around in frilly dresses so she can show me off like a doll! She even tries to hand pick the people I should be friends with! She monitors everything I do and flips out when I don't do what she wants! Not only that, she criticizes and hates on everything about me: how I dress, how I do my hair, my eating habits, my interest in comic books and goth clothes, the people I hang out with...all this because she's dead set on making her own mother happy!" This is when the tears started to flow.

She continued. "I've heard her talk on the phone lots of times about how she'll continue the family legacy and _"fix"_ me so I can be perfect in the eyes of her family! The whole reason she had me in the first place is because she wants an absolutely perfect kid with no flaws or anything outside the norm so she can please her own parents! All she cares about is money and being famous! She doesn't care one bit about me, and she definitely doesn't want to accept that the world is changing and there's nothing she can do about it! She's convinced that anything I do, like wear black clothes or read comic books or hang out with people with different sexual orientations, is automatically bad and will corrupt me and set me on a bad path! In her dreams! She acts like everything that's outside the norm is Satan! She even tries to lock me in the house all the time and sign me up for piano or ballet lessons! She doesn't want to accept me for who I am, a person with strengths and weaknesses, good qualities and faults, likes and dislikes. All she wants to do is fix my so-called imperfections, erase everything about me for good, and make me into a perfect little doll she can use and show off for her performance evaluation!"

Tearful and abject, Anzu continued her tale of woe at her obsessively controlling mother's hand. She went on and on. Nobody interjected. Nobody interrupted her. Nobody told her to shut up or get over it. Nobody brushed her off. Everybody listened. Even the doctor, who stopped and listened to her tearful tale grimly. The pieces came together like a puzzle that kindergarteners can solve. Anzu didn't stop. She already pulled the lid off, and her woe stormed out like flood water, consuming everyone. She didn't care if she sounded like she was losing her voice at this time, with the scratchy and raspy way it sounded. She's already telling her story, and once she started, she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop. She'd been ignoring her problems for too long. It was time to finally let them all out.

"Dad came home to find me all dolled up, wearing extremely heavy makeup and Mom beating me with a clothing hanger because I didn't say an introduction properly. That was the last straw for him. He took me away from Mom the minute he saw that and took me to the hospital. After I told him everything, he filed for divorce the second I finished. But she found out and began hounding us with threatening phone calls and sending hate filled letters. God, I can't even repeat the things she says about poor Dad in those letters! We get piles and piles of letters every single day! We moved away some years ago and for a while, everything was fine until she found out where we lived and started hounding us with more phone calls and letters!" Anzu continued. "She even keeps roping Dad into pointless court hearings, accusing him of brainwashing me, abusing me, corrupting me with bad ideas, and turning me into a delinquent! Trust me, if she saw me being friends with you all, she'd chain me to the house and say stuff like, _'This family doesn't associate with criminal spawn, the disabled, or hikikomori otaku! They're a bad influence on children in today's crumbling society!'_ I can't take it anymore!" With her face twisting and contorting dejectedly, Anzu began shouting and slamming her hospital blanket at this point, and the tears continued to flow. Some huge strands of hair fell out of her head onto her blanket. "I just can't take it! Why can't she just leave us alone?! I can't stand all the yelling, all the fighting, all the threatening phone calls, all the hate mail, all the court hearings, all her impossible expectations, all the nightmares...they all make me SICK!"

"Is that why you often don't stay in your house?" Riko asked, scratching her head of black hair.

After panting and catching her breath, Anzu continued despite her voice getting even more raspy, calmer this time. "Yeah. For a while, all I've wanted was to get out and go places. It always calmed me down whenever I went on long walks, looking at everything, playing my harmonica, watching the rain fall, the flowers, the birds, the animals...I just...I just want to get away from it all. From everything. For the first few years, it helped. But recently it hasn't been helping me like it used to."

"Is that also why you watch horror movies so much?" Marina asked.

"Yeah. I thought that if I watched as many of those as possible, I could get stronger and not puke as much. None of them scared me enough to make me vomit. I even draw lots of gross and violent pictures just to get everything out, and Dad was okay with that. But even that hasn't been helping!" Anzu confessed tearfully. Riko definitely remembered seeing Anzu draw lots of horrific, violent, bloody pictures, like monsters that looked like masses of organs and blood with sharp teeth and shining dragon eyes. She never did ask about it, and now she knows why. "My dad's been trying to sign me up to see a therapist, but the ones we met don't take our insurance."

"You've been holding it all in all this time. You've been so stressed out for so long. How come you never told us any of this, Anzu-chan?" Hotaru asked worriedly. Anzu would see the concern written all over her face. On everyone's faces, even the fairies and Arinao.

"I wanted to...but I was afraid you'd say I was being a whiny drama queen and tell me to get over it...or that you wouldn't believe me," Anzu confessed sadly.

"We'd never do that!" Riko exclaimed. "Friends always talk to each other about their problems and try to help each other out! That's what they're for! We think you're just fine the way you are, An-chan!"

Anzu stopped talking at this point, but the outpouring of tears didn't cease one bit. But this time, a warm and loving glow encased her softening heart, setting it alight, causing a smile to appear on her face this time. They listened to her whine about everything, and they don't hate her for it. To Anzu, this was a God given miracle. For once, her stomach didn't churn, nor did she feel the need to vomit once again. With that, Anzu hugged Riko tightly and cried passionately into her chest right in front of everyone. Riko just smiled and stroke her back with her hand. The fairies hugged her silently, hoping that she'll feel their love and support.

'_You don't have to deal with this alone anymore, An-chan. We're all here for you. Is this what it's like to help a friend in need?'_ Riko thought as she embraced her bawling, blonde, bespectacled friend.

'_I never knew any of this about An-chan. She's so strong to have made it this far, even though she's been so stressed out to the point of getting sick,'_ Moonbeam thought. She was surprised she and her sisters didn't react to stress the way Anzu's been doing, even though the latter's reasons for being so sick is quite small compared to what the fairies had to go through. Their world was reduced to a barren mess by a crazy, narcissistic, sociopathic teenage boy, causing many deaths. The fairies had to go to another world, unfamiliar with anything and everything it had to offer. It's a wonder the fairies didn't get sick from all the stress. Well, Sunbeam did, but she didn't vomit constantly, and the cold only lasted for a day or two.

"Thanks so much for listening...you don't know how much this means to me…" Anzu said through her tears in a softer voice this time.

"You're welcome," Riko said.

* * *

Zenjin stared down at a book with lots of hiragana and kanji, looking like he's concentrating really hard, with Beileag watching him just a couple feet away. There's a huge pile of crumpled up papers next to him, with lots of katakana and hiragana on the sides, but with lots of odd, inaccurate scribbles on the other sides. The symbols for _'he'_ are written backwards, the hiragana for _'n'_ isn't shaped like a lower case h and is instead shaped like an incomplete trapezoid, the hiragana symbol for _'a'_ doesn't have the loop on the bottom of it, but on the top instead, and the kanji for _'guchi'_, instead of being a plain square is a very blocky and cock-eyed triangle, among many mistakes. Suddenly, Zenjin let out a loud growl and threw the soft book at Beileag. "Ow! Watch it, Zen-chan! That hurt!" Beileag complained as she threw the book back at him. Zenjin caught it, so it didn't hit him.

"I don't know how you people can read this stuff!" Zenjin yelled, throwing the book on the floor like it was trash.

"Can you really not read even basic katakana?" Decebal asked as he worked on his nails.

"Yeah! How come everyone else can read and I can't?! Everything looks like little fuzzy black balls to me!" Zenjin growled, stamping his feet even though he's sitting on a cushion.

"Did you try wishing on the Energia to be able to read and write?" Decebal asked as he went to get a hair brush and began styling his hair.

"I did that. It didn't work," Zenjin confessed in a softer voice this time. Beileag sat on a bean bag chair, looking in a compact mirror as she examined the new cotton candy pink lace ribbons she put on her indigo colored pigtails.

"Maybe you have some kind of learning disability. Lots of people have those," Beileag said. "I remember one classmate of mine couldn't read or write, but she got lots of help."

"Boo! Learning disabilities are for retards, and I'm not a retard!" Zenjin snapped.

"You shouldn't say that word. It's offensive," Beileag told him.

"I can say whatever I want so get used to it!" Zenjin snapped petulantly, like a bratty little kid. "That fat woman always beat me and yelled at me, even for not being able to read and write. She said stuff like, _'Why can't you do something as simple as read or write?! Every person on this planet can do it, you trash! It's not that hard! If you can't even read and write, then you're trash! You won't get anywhere in life if you can't read or write! But you won't get anywhere in life anyway because you're a cursed piece of trash who doesn't deserve to exist!'_ Oh, how I wished I could crack her fat pig face open," Zenjin confessed darkly as he took a piece of strawberry pocky from a box and began chomping on it. "Hey, Decebal."

"Hm?"

"I need to check my complexion," Beileag said as she went into her room, ignoring the conversation.

"When you rescued me, did you ever arrest her? Or did you give her over to the police?" Zenjin asked in a soft voice.

"We didn't have time to deal with her. Our only priority was getting you out of there," Decebal told him as he put his gloves back on. "Plus, someone would arrest her eventually. Since she's a woman of violent moods, I figure she might lose her mind and lash out, and that easily grabs the attention of the public eye."

Zenjin flashed a mischievous smile and a thumb's up. "Good one. But then again, I do kinda wish she had been. That way, she'd be in one place and you'd be able to find her easily. Speaking of, did you or Beileag ever find the school I went to yet?"

"I'm afraid not, Zenny boy. The fact that it's by the ocean isn't enough to go by. But you did say you've been there for a short while, so I guess-"

"YEEEEEEEK!" Beileag's bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the fortress. Zenjin and Decebal didn't bother to go in her room and see what's wrong. Instead, Zenjin just facepalmed and Decebal began polishing one of his fancy shoes with a wash cloth. Soon, Beileag darted out of the room, her pale lavender eyes wide like saucers, her face beet red and ready to explode.

"What's your major malfunction?" Zenjin asked irritably, in no mood to deal with whatever it is his adoptive mother is shouting about.

"I HAVE A ZIIIIIIT!" Beileag screamed to the world like her life was in danger, pointing to a swollen red pimple on her right cheek.

"So? Why should we care?" Zenjin asked as he chewed on some more strawberry pink pocky.

"Don't you get it?! Pimples ruin my beautiful complexion! If I get more, my beautiful face will be covered with acne, and nobody will want to cast a person with a face full of zits and acne as the leading lady for a play!" Beileag whined like an annoying teenage girl, unabashedly pointing to her swollen pimple. "Did you know that pimples are caused by oil getting trapped in the pores of people's skin?! I gotta go to Earth and get some makeup products to hide iiiiiiiit!"

"Get over it, you whiny putz. Nobody cares about the ugly zit on your trashy face," Zenjin sneered before eating yet another stick of pocky. "It's not like anything you do will make them go away, and even if you do make that one go away, more are just gonna pop up anyway!"

"Not if Billie has anything to say about it!" Beileag yelped angrily as she darted out of the fortress.

"Don't worry. You won't," Zenjin mused to himself right after she left. "Beileag's so dumb. Always freaking out over stupid stuff."

"She has her moments. I dearly hope she scrapes together some information while she's at it," Decebal said as he went into the bathroom.

"You know she won't. She's just gonna go shopping for useless stuff like she always does. If I see more dresses in those shopping bags, I'm gonna blast her trash into oblivion!"

"Suit yourself, Zenny boy."

"By the way, how come you guys are able to expose people's Soul Portals when you don't even have the Energia?"

"It's probably because we were exposed to its energy when we first came into contact with it, improving our powers somewhat. But I don't quite know for sure."

Zenjin pulled out the last piece of pocky and ate it, leaving a tiny box the size of his whole hand completely empty.

* * *

Good news: the hospital discharged Anzu a few hours after she got admitted, so she's free to return home, on the condition that she use an enamel strengthening toothpaste to brush her teeth with from now on so the acid erosion caused by her vomit won't destroy her teeth completely. She also got prescribed some medicine to help keep her food down when she eats. Everyone went home. Anzu sat in the back seat of the car with Sunbeam tucked snugly in her hands as her father drove from the hospital.

"I'm sorry, Anzu," Juunosuke said at the wheel.

"For what? You didn't do anything bad," Anzu asked, flummoxed.

"I know, but...that's just it. You were suffering so much because of Reika and yet...I wasn't able to help you cope with it. I can't even do anything to help you get better. What kind of father am I when I can't even help my own child when she's miserable and suffering? I wish I could take your place so you wouldn't have to go through all this at all," Juunosuke told her abjectly.

"Dad, don't blame yourself. I know you at least care about me and like me for who I am. That's good enough for me," Anzu said. Sunbeam nodded in agreement. "Besides, you did try to get me some help, but those therapists don't take our insurance, right?"

"We'll get through this, Anzu. I'm gonna keep Reika out of our lives once and for all. I'm not gonna let her ruin our lives anymore, especially since it resulted in this-WHOA!" Juunosuke was about to tell her that he's going to take things into his own hands until the car suddenly stopped in its tracks.

"What's up?" Anzu asked.

"I feel Beileag's presence!" Sunbeam whispered.

"Did I get a flat?" Juunosuke got out of the car and examined his tires. But none of them are flat. There aren't any marks on them or anything. Anzu got out with Sunbeam in her hands, but when she looked up, she saw Beileag floating in the air with a disappointed look on her face.

"I need to let off some steam, and you're gonna be my outlet, Cure Dawn!" Beileag yelled as she threw a purple ball of energy. It was about to hit Anzu, but Sunbeam flew in front of her and deflected it with a yellow shield, sending it right back at Beileag. It didn't knock her to the street, but it definitely made her hair look like it got electrocuted, and this only exacerbated her already choleric mood.

"Uuuuuugh! Now you're gonna get it, you dumb blonde!" Anzu tried to run, but Beileag was on her tail, ready to shoot another ball of light at her. Suddenly…

"ANZU!" Juunosuke pushed her out of the way, sending her rolling on the concrete as cars stopped to observe the scene with awe. Juunosuke cried out in pain as he was hit with the ball of energy, his Soul Portal being exposed for all to see...and for Beileag to stick her head into. She did just that, and Juunosuke wailed in pain as Beileag attempted to rip his soul out.

"DAD!" Anzu screamed as she ran toward the hippie woman and rammed into her, pushing her off of her helpless father. She didn't get to rip his soul out, so she came out empty. "Leave my dad alone, you hippie!"

"Out of my way, Cure Dawn!" Beileag yelled.

'_Cure Dawn? What is she talking about?! That hippie talks like she knows Anzu! And what's with this gigantic mirror?!'_ Juunosuke asked frightfully as he tried to get back on his feet. His heart is basically a whirlpool of conflicted emotions, struggling to straighten itself out and figure out what the heck is going on around him.

Anzu pulled out her Heart Lighter and gripped it tightly. She's standing right in front of her frightened and flabbergasted father, with Sunbeam next to her, floating in mid-air. _'If I transform in front of him, he'll know I'm a Pretty Cure. But Beileag's gonna rip his soul out, and I can't let that happen!'_ Anzu closed her eyes and grimaced. _'I'm sorry, Dad! But I have to!'_ She readied her Heart Lighter. "Pretty Cure, let the light shine!"

Juunosuke and many onlookers watched in awe as Anzu was bathed in a golden light, coming out dressed in a different outfit. "I am the light that will bring in the new day, Cure Dawn!" He couldn't believe his eyes. Then again, he definitely recognized her eyes, glasses, and ponytail. There's no mistaking those. 'Anzu...what is this? Did you just...turn into some...super hero?' Juunosuke stammered in his head.

"Everyone! Please get away from here or you'll be killed!" Cure Dawn commanded. Some people immediately evacuated without a second thought. Juunosuke was so frozen with a combination of surprise and fear that he couldn't move from where he was.

"You, like, totally need a head-to-toe makeover!" Beileag was about to land one of her high heels on Cure Dawn, but she grabbed her leg with one hand and threw her on top of someone's car. None of the windows broke and no part of the car sustained any dents. She tried to fly toward Cure Dawn, but the latter intercepted her. She tried to land some punches and kicks on her, but Beileag kept evading them, even catching her hand at one point and throwing her onto someone's car, breaking the windshield. Sunbeam flew away from the scene, probably to let the others know what's happening. Cure Dawn yanked out her nunchucks and threw herself at Beileag, who proceeded to throw a purple ball of energy at her.

"Dawn Spin!" Cure Dawn spun her nunchucks in a circle which caused the beam of energy to disappear. "Dawn Flame!" She then used them to shoot a burst of blazing yellow flames at the hippie, who brushed them all away with a wave of her hand emitting purple energy.

"Think you can leave some third degree burns on me, princess? Think again!" Beileag hissed as she rammed herself into Cure Dawn, knocking her to someone's car and then managing to stick her hand in Juunosuke's Soul Portal, successful in yanking out his soul this time.

"DAAAD!" Cure Dawn screamed as Beileag proceeded to corrupt his soul orb, turning it into a giant black grizzly bear that wasted no time stomping on cars within its vicinity, turning them into squashed heaps of metal and broken glass as it walked away.

"_I'm a terrible parent!"_ The black grizzly bear bellowed sadly as it knocked over a tree which fell on someone's voice, making a huge hole in the roof.

Cure Dawn balled her fists. "Forgive me, Dad," She then flew toward the giant bear, spun around in the air, and landed a massive rolling kick on its head. But it didn't knock it out. Instead, it took one of its paws and tried to swat her. Cure Dawn set up a shield just in time, but she still got knocked into a tree. Thankfully, she got right back up and attempted a Golden Dawn Explosion on it. Unfortunately for Anzu, it wasn't enough to purify it.

"_I'm her father but I couldn't protect her from Reika! I can't even ease her pain! I should have noticed she was miserable to the point of getting sick!"_ The grizzly bear yelled as it swatted a house, breaking some windows. Cure Dawn delivered another roundabout kick on it, but this time, the bear swatted her again, and she didn't have time to set up her shield. It doesn't help that her eyesight is blurring a bit and her head is pulsating.

"No...I have to...my dad…" Cure Dawn struggled to get back on her feet, but found that the energy in her body is seeping right out of her. But before the giant black grizzly bear could do anything else…

"Twilight Serenade!"

"Starlight Shower!"

"Fiery Dusk Arrow!"

The attacks of Cures Twilight, Starlight, and Dusk, along with energy beams fired by the four fairy sisters, bombarded the grizzly bear, causing it to growl in pain. Soon, the trio of Pretty Cure and the fairy quartet appeared in front of their exhausted comrade, helping her up. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Sunbeam told us everything. Plus we could hear the commotion nearby," Cure Starlight said. The sky turned mandarin orange, just like Cure Dusk's theme color, with the golden sun hiding behind the horizon, ready to go to sleep.

"That Corrupt Sentinel...it's my dad. I have to save him. I need to-" Cure Dawn croaked weakly and was about to walk away until Cure Twilight grabbed her hand.

"Do you really think you can do this alone?" Cure Twilight told her with concern. "I told you before. Friends help each other out."

"You don't need to shoulder the burden anymore!" Cure Dusk exclaimed boldly with her arms crossed.

"Besides, we still have time!" Starbeam interjected.

Cure Dawn smiled sweetly as memories of the days she and her father spent together came into view. The times when they went to the art museum, the theater where they saw an awe-inspiring performance of Wicked, their favorite ice cream place Aisu where Anzu's favorite pistachio ice cream would be served, the time when her father tried to feed some pigeons in the park but got pooped on by one, the day when Anzu and Juunosuke went to a nearby comic con last winter, and best of all, the day when Juunosuke valiantly stole Anzu from Reika's fancy mansion and took her home like a knight in shining armor saving a princess from an evil stepmother, like Rapunzel or Cinderella.

"Don't worry, Anzu. She's not going to hurt you anymore. Not on my watch," The fact that he cared enough about her to save her right then and there, even when Reika has every means possible to ruin him like money, lawyers, and charisma good enough to manipulate even the most competent official, was enough to convince Anzu that he really is a good parent. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have took Anzu out of Reika's mansion right then and there. He would have joined in on the abuse and forced Anzu to throw away everything she is.

Nobody is going to change that, especially now that her friends are here to help.

With that, all four girls landed some good punches and kicks on the giant grizzly bear, taking care not to cause it to fall on any houses. When it was distracted enough, they initiated the finishing move. "Pretty Cure Dazzling Gleam!" With that, the bear disappeared, revealing Juunosuke's soul orb. Cure Dawn wasted no time taking it and putting it back in her father's Soul Portal.

"Thanks for coming, girls. I couldn't have done it without you," Cure Dawn said sheepishly, pushing one of her hands through her thick blonde hair.

"You're welcome. I was afraid you'd get sick again and you'd collapse from pushing yourself too hard," Cure Twilight confessed.

"Urrrrgh! Why do you stupid Pretty Cure always get in the way of my beloved Decebal and Zenjin's plans?! Don't you have better things to do?! Like, oh, I don't know, go to fashion clubs and get head-to-toe makeovers?! You won't get anywhere in life if you look and act the way you do! Nobody cares about a bunch of yard sale rejects who will never amount to anything!" Beileag yelled vehemently.

"Do we look like we care?" Cure Dusk added as she readied her bow and arrow. "By the way, you have a humongous zit on your face."

Upon hearing this, Beileag pulled out her compact mirror. She screamed like she saw a horror movie. "IT GOT BIGGER!" She screeched and threw some energy beams around. "I need masking products! Where are the makeup stores?! I need something to hide this huge blemiiiiiiiish!" With that, she disappeared just as the sky began to develop splotches of lavender purple and ocean blue on its mandarin orange coat.

Turning back to normal, Anzu ran over to her unconscious father with worry. Thankfully for her, he woke up. "Anzu...you're a magical girl hero…" He muttered weakly.

"Wait, what?!" Cure Twilight yelped. "Tell me he didn't figure out who you are!"

"Now you know, huh?" Anzu confessed softly. Cure Dusk groaned and facepalmed.

"Are you kidding me?!" Cure Dusk complained.

"How long…?" Juunosuke asked as he came to.

"For about a month. Sorry I didn't tell you. I was afraid you'd get mad," Anzu said.

Juunosuke smiled and rubbed his daughter's head of hair. "Now why would I be mad? I saw the stories about the monsters on the news. I even saw some monsters, so I know those were real. But...now that I know you're fighting them...to tell you the truth, I really fear for your life. I want to protect you and keep you away from those things. I don't...want to lose you…" Juunosuke confessed with a smile, but Anzu could see some tears creeping out of the corners of his eyes.

"I know, Dad…"

"But you're some magical girl hero now, so it's not like anything can be changed. Besides, no matter what you are or what you choose to be, you'll always be my daughter, and I can't make decisions for you unless you ask me to," Juunosuke told her.

Now Anzu blubbered like no tomorrow. "Dad!" With that, she hugged her father tightly. She didn't want to let him go. "I'm so glad we were able to save you! You saved me when I needed it, so...now we're even!"

* * *

In some woody but relatively well maintained stables, Queen Malgorzata fed a single carrot to a green eyed alicorn while others whinnied right next to it. As it chomped on the carrot contentedly, Malgorzata stroke the alicorn's shimmering rainbow mane gently, with a sweet but sad looking smile. "Good girl, Egrantine. You're finally eating," Malgorzata said.

"Egrantine's finally eating, huh?" The deep, rich, gentle voice of a man asked. Malgorzata turned around to find a man walking behind her, who looked very much like the king of a powerful country. The man has very poofy dark blonde hair with a fully grown dark yellow beard and mustache to match, setting off his dark burgundy eyes. Crowning his head is a shimmering, shining golden crown with some rubies and sapphires glued around it. He is wearing a midnight black shirt, matching pants, tall beige boots, and a dark blue and white cape with lots of fur on the collar that trailed past his feet, but are rolled up right now so as to keep it from getting dirty from the mud beneath his feet. He's quite the regal figure.

"Hello, Ghislain," Malgorzata said as the man, Ghislain, embraced her and pecked a kiss on her soft cheek.

"Sorry I arrived so late, dear. I had business to take care of in some neighboring cities. Zenjin did quite a number on this planet," Ghislain told her calmly.

"Yes. I've been busy too," Malgorzata said. She turned around to face the alicorn she just fed, Egrantine. "But I'm at least happy Rozaniela is trying to recover from this disaster, even if it's just a little bit. Poor Egrantine hasn't been the same since her foal died in the destruction. But now she's finally accepting food."

"Egrantine may be on the road to recovery, but there are others who are so damaged by what happened that the scars on both their bodies and hearts can never be truly healed," Ghislain said as he walked toward Egrantine and stroke her rainbow mane gently. The alicorn next to her whinnied.

"Hold on, Raessa. Here's your share," Malgorzata crooned gently as she handed the carrot to the alicorn next to Egrantine, Raessa. "I'd best give some to Britannia and Faustino, too," Malgorzata gave more carrots to two other alicorns, who happily received them.

"By the way, I hear you've met the Pretty Cure, the heroes who will defeat Zenjin," Ghislain said.

"Yes. I've met them. They're just little foals so far, but I have faith in them, and they show a lot of potential and promise," Malgorzata told him as she finished feeding the alicorn named Britannia, who whinnied for more. "Now now, Brit. Food is scarce, so that's all for today," She turned to Ghislain again. "As of now, we have no idea where Zenjin is hiding. But we definitely know who's been helping him out."

Although it broke her heart to subject her husband with this heartbreaking information, she knew she had to. She told him about the Pretty Cure's encounters with Decebal amd Beileag, and their supposed involvement in the whole fiasco. Ghislain was so shocked, he had to sit down on a chair to take it all in. He buried his face in his hands, but he didn't cry. "I'm sorry this had to come to pass."

"It's alright, Mal. Honestly, I'm not surprised anymore. I knew something was off about Decebal, but I was a fool to hire him back even when my gut was telling me not to. How could I have been so blind to everything?" Ghislain muttered grimly. Malgorzata put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You're not the only one. We both failed to notice the signs. We both gave him easy access to the Energia, and God only knows what he, Zenjin, and Beileag plan to do with the Energia," Malgorzata whispered.

"Decebal and Zenjin, I can somewhat understand, but what flummoxes me is Billie. Why is she involved in this? Isn't she your designer? She has no reason to want the Energia," Ghislain asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Malgorzata said. "But...even though circumstances are dire, I believe in the Pretty Cure. I'd like for you to meet them some time. If they're in trouble, I'll be more than willing to help out."

"I know you would, Malgorzata. Nobody on Rozaniela can joust or ride an alicorn in armor as well as you can. But my friends and I are searching for the royal library. It has important archives in it left behind by our ancestors, and as things stand, we cannot afford to lose them. They might contain information about our ancestors and what we can do to ameliorate our current situation, among other mysteries. I figure now's a good time to save them and finally decipher them."

"How will you be able to decipher them? They're written in a language we can't understand, and there's no one on this planet that can read it."

"Technology has evolved over the years, and it's amazing what it can do. But I only pray that the archives are safe and undamaged."

Malgorzata gripped part of her shirt. She hoped so too. But in her heart, fishes of doubt swam about.


	22. The Story of The First Pretty Cure

Chapter 21: Cures Daylight and Sunlight! Take a Trip Down Memory Lane!

King Ghislain, riding his blue eyed alicorn, is overseeing a huge crowd of people digging through a huge pile of debris, pulling out various books, and taking them away in wheelbarrows. Some people pulled out some books one at a time to put them in plastic bags. Others took them out in huge piles, putting them in one big bag and throwing them in wheelbarrows. Others aren't even bagging them, just putting them in wheelbarrows.

"Don't be rough with the books! Preserve them and their contents to the best of your ability!" King Ghislain commanded in a booming voice, with a whinny coming from his alicorn.

"Yes sir!" The people exclaimed as they dug through more debris as gently as possible, praying that whatever books are inside are still in tact. Unfortunately, some people did dig out some damaged books. Some had their covers completely ripped off. Some had their spines bent, twisted, and contorted in odd angles. Others had most of their pages completely smudged beyond repair or ripped out completely. Other books didn't even make it out alive, coming out as nothing but dusty pieces of chair. Some were cut in half. Some are covered in mud, dirt, and dust.

One man with blonde hair, wearing a dark brown robe approached the king. "Your majesty. I'm sorry to impose, but do you happen to know what the archives look like? What color are they? Do they have gold lettering?"

"The archives have a dark green leather cover, and the writing on them is printed in gold and silver, in pictures and languages we cannot understand. There are also some scrolls among them. If I remember correctly, the scrolls are in silver titanium thermoses," King Ghislain explained kindly.

"Thank you, your majesty," The man curtsied to the king before getting back into the search. The alicorn beneath King Ghislain whinnied.

"You want me to join them, Vespasian?" King Ghislain said as he stroke his alicorn's mane gently. "I suppose I should," Ghislain hopped off of Vespasian's back, ambled to the rubble, and began rummaging through the many piles of bricks, wood, and whatever else he could dig through.

"But your majesty! You'll hurt yourself or sully your robes!" One woman exclaimed worriedly.

"The loss of my robes is nothing compared to what everyone else has lost. Furthermore, these archives are a priority. Keep digging!" King Ghislain replied as he gently pushed some bricks away. Nobody questioned his involvement in the search after that.

The digging seemed to go on for hours, and the denizens rummaging through the rubble seemed to grow more exhausted by the hour, but most kept going, even as others went to drink bottles of water that were brought to them. Others just kept digging and pulling out more books, both damaged and undamaged. King Ghislain did stop to wipe his face of sweat for a bit, but continued on after he took some breaths. Some medical staff stayed within the vicinity in case they found anyone who's hurt, dead, or in need of some attention. The men lifted all the bricks, wood, and broken furniture as gently as they could muster, as any sudden movement or reckless move could hurt themselves, damage the books, or cost them their chances of finding the important archives.

In the midst of the rubble, one woman with long braids removed a brick from the pile and stopped when she saw something peeking out from underneath a piece of wood. Something dark green. She stroke her hand against the material. It felt soft but hard at the same time. There was no mistaking it. This is leather. She very carefully removed the piece of wood, which turned out to be not as heavy as it looked, revealing the rest of the thick dark green book. To her joy, there's gold lettering on it, written in an unknown language. Aside from a few spots of dirt, the book looked undamaged. She picked it up and happily ran to where the king is.

"Your majesty!" The woman yelled, successful in getting his attention. Without saying anything, she gleefully handed the thick green book to the king. He skimmed through it to see if it's what he expects it to be. There are old pictures. The whole book is written in a language even he can't understand. None of the pages are tattered in any way, save for some folded corners and the fact that the paper is yellowing somewhat. He cracked a smile.

"Yes! This is one of the archives! Good work, Elphaba!" King Ghislain exalted the woman, Elphaba, then stood up. "Everyone! One of the archives has been recovered! The scrolls may be among them, so keep looking, and take great care when handling them!"

The denizens rejoiced before returning to digging in the rubble. As for King Ghislain, he hopped back on Vespasian's back as the alicorn ascended into the sky, heading toward a tall but slightly battered castle that greatly resembles the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, only less clean. As dismal as it looked on the outside, most of the inside has come out unscathed, and the castle itself is still standing. Vespasian descended before a balcony, allowing King Ghislain to hop into it. Vespasian flew away as the king, with the green book in his hands, arrived in a white room full of old paintings. In the room is Queen Malgorzata, dressed in her favorite Native American raiment and headdress, reading lots of letters.

"Malgorzata!" King Ghislain exclaimed happily. "We've managed to save one of the archives!"

"What?!" Malgorzata stood up in alarm as her husband handed her the slightly dirty book. As soon as she stroke the leather cover and the golden letters with her fingers, her heart was aglow with joy. "They're safe...thank goodness...now we can learn more about our creation, maybe find a way to deal with Zenjin," Malgorzata mused with a smile, closing her eyes. "The Pretty Cure must know about this."

"We've found some other books in relatively good condition, so I'll have some of my friends peruse those in search for answers," King Ghislain said.

Malgorzata smiled. This is a step in the right direction.

* * *

"Uuuugh! I am so gonna fail the test!" Riko complained in the park one day as she looked over her notes from math class, accompanied by the fairies, Kyoya, Anzu, Marina, Hotaru, and even Fukiko.

"You don't know that," Moonbeam said.

"Yes I do! I stink at math!" Riko snapped.

"We all hate math. But you're good at everything else. You got an A on your cat presentation. Remember?" Marina told her.

"Your grades are good, considering all the A's and B's I've seen you get on all your stuff lately," Anzu said.

"It's true. I wish I was as smart as you," Fukiko said with Starbeam snugly tucked in her arms.

They're right about the A's and B's Riko has been getting on various worksheets and pop quizzes. She just aced one spelling test with flying colors, even getting extra points for spelling the extra credit words perfectly. Her cat presentation got an A despite the sour reception it got from Yuji's cronies. Not only that, she got one of the highest marks on a recent science quiz.

"I'm not smart at all. I'm stupider than a baby ant," Riko mused irritably, not finding getting A's and B's to be much of an accomplishment. "I can't even get these dumb math equations in my head!"

All of a sudden, Sunbeam's ComLap appeared from her bow clip, flipping open and showing Queen Malgorzata's face on the screen. "Queen? What's up?"

"_Sunbeam. Would it be okay for you, your sisters, and the Pretty Cure to come to Rozaniela?"_ Queen Malgorzata asked.

"Whoa! Is this for real?!" Fukiko exclaimed as she looked into the ComLap screen. She couldn't believe this was real. A tiny computer? A person talking through it, whom Sunbeam referred to as a queen?

Queen Malgorzata was taken aback a bit. _"Hello there. Who might you be?"_

"Queen, this is my friend, Dounowaki Fukiko," Kyoya introduced Fukiko to the queen. Now Fukiko was taken aback. He called her his friend. He didn't do that before. If he's referring to her as his friend now, this meant that he's forgiven her. A parade of celebratory butterflies launched in her stomach, and she felt like bursting into song, but she kept silent. Whoever this queen is, she must be contacting them about something important.

"What do you want us to come for?" Lovebeam asked.

"_My husband and some denizens of Rozaniela are on a mission to preserve books from our sacred library, books that may or may not contain information about the Energia and our ancestors that may be beneficial to our current situation. We've managed to save many books, including one piece of ancient archives that our ancestors left to us long ago,"_ Queen Malgorzata explained lucidly and calmly. _"But most of my servants are wandering through Rozaniela in search of survivors, and my husband and his friends are still trying to scour the sacred library, so I was wondering if you could come and browse through some of the books we managed to save, just to find information on the Energia that may prove to be useful. I love books just as much as the next person, but I can only read so much in one day, and there are piles of books here that I've never even touched, let alone knew they even existed."_

"Wait. You say this library is sacred, but you never touched any of the books in it?" Marina asked, flummoxed. "What's up with that?"

"_The sacred library was left by our ancestors. It's the oldest building in all of Rozaniela. But all of it's books have been securely locked away long ago, with a message to never open them up unless we are in a situation where reading them is dire,"_ The Queen explained.

"I happen to have a very open passion for reading, so I would be more than happy to assist in your endeavor, Your Highness," Starbeam said.

The Queen smiled sweetly. _"I'm glad. But you don't have to come if you don't want to. This task may take all day, and I don't want to get in the way of your lives. Being a Pretty Cure may be important, but your real, personal lives are just as important."_

"I've been studying all day, but I guess a break wouldn't hurt," Anzu said.

"Count me in!" Kyoya piped in.

"I don't have anything planned, so I'll come too," Hotaru said.

"You should come to Rozaniela, Fukiko. It's a wonderful place! It's a little banged up because someone tried to destroy it, though," Kyoya explained.

"Do you mean...there's a new planet we don't know about?!" Fukiko yelped in a high voice when the implications of Kyoya's words dawned on her.

"Yep! It's where we come from!" Moonbeam chirped.

"Um...would it be okay if I stayed here?" Riko asked shyly, her eyes trembling like she was fearing everyone would flip out at her answer.

"How come?" Marina asked softly. Riko found herself taken aback. Usually, Marina flips out whenever she says just about anything related to the Pretty Cure. Now she's calm? Riko wondered if this was the same person.

"I mean, I'd love to help you guys out, but...I really need to pass this math test! If I don't, it'll completely ruin my grade, and my grade in math is horrible enough as it is! Believe me, I'd much rather go to Rozaniela and read a bunch of books!" Riko exclaimed.

She felt a gentle pat on her shoulder. Riko thought it was Anzu, but it turned out to be someone she never expected, the one person she thought who'd never do something like this, especially in a calm manner. "Sure. We totally get it. We don't wanna get in the way of your studying, so you do your thing. We'll handle things from here," Marina told her calmly, with a smile to go with it.

"Yeah. Real life is just as important as being a Pretty Cure, like the queen just said. If we find anything, we'll let you know ASAP," Kyoya piped in.

"That's true," Hotaru piped in. "Don't worry about a thing, Riko-chan. Queen Malgorzata understands, and we do too."

Riko felt like crying right then and there. She expected them to be completely angry, calling her a disgrace to the Pretty Cure, accusing her of being selfish and inconsiderate for not helping people who have it worse than she does, deeming her worse than even Zenjin, or at the very least lecturing her about how this might help their cause and claiming she'll ruin everything by not at least being there. This is what she's used to, and has been used to her whole life. Instead, they understood completely and aren't making a huge deal out of it. She found herself clutching her math notes tightly.

"You're not mad at me?" Riko asked in a low whisper.

"No. Why would we be?" Anzu asked.

"Everybody gets angry whenever I say just about anything, and they interpret it wrong and think I'm a bad person forever," Riko said, louder this time but not too loud.

"Friends aren't like that, and you know it. Stay and study for your test. We don't mind," Marina told her kindly.

"Thank you…" Riko whimpered, looking like she's about to cry any minute from too much happiness, the thing she honestly felt she didn't deserve, even the tiniest little bit of it.

"Want to go right now?" Fukiko suggested. "I have to be back by five, though."

"Us too," Anzu piped in, with Marina, Kyoya, and Hotaru nodding in unison.

"So, off to Rozaniela we go!" Lovebeam exclaimed as she and her sisters formed a circle around everyone sans Riko. Soon, a portal opened and devoured them all, leaving Riko all alone. She put her eyes back on her math notes, but oh, how she yearned to join them!

"Whoooaaa! This cannot be real!" Fukiko stared in awe in the glowing tunnel she and everyone else are floating in. "Everything's all glowy! And I'm floating!"

"Trust me, you ain't seen nothin' yet!" Anzu piped in cheerfully.

"Look! There it is!" Sunbeam yelped. Soon, the kids found themselves out of the portal and in front of a very tall, very grand, very grandiose castle.

Fukiko wasted no time becoming awestruck by the whole thing, as her hazel eyes became wide like saucers, sparkling with joy. "Wooow! I've never seen a real castle up close before! And what is this place?! The sky is pink! The trees are all different colors! And look! Are those winged unicorns?! Oh my gosh, I cannot believe all of this is real!"

"We're not here to go sightseeing, even though we kinda want to. We're here to help the queen look through the books they saved so we can find a way to stop Zenjin," Marina told her calmly.

"IS this her castle, though?" Hotaru asked. "We've never been to the queen's castle before."

"Yep! This is her castle! My sisters and I have been here lots of times before!" Lovebeam chirped.

"True true!" Starbeam agreed.

"Let's go inside! We'll show you where the queen's room is!" Sunbeam said as she and the fairies flitted into the castle.

"Wait!" Anzu suddenly shouted. "Does this castle have any elevators?"

"No. Why...oh," Sunbeam was about to ask why, but then it dawned on her. Kyoya's in a wheelchair, and he probably can't go beyond the first floor.

"You made it!" A familiar, gentle voice crooned behind them, turning them around to face her highness herself, Queen Malgorzata.

"Queen!" The fairies flitted to her and nuzzled her face like they haven't seen her in years. The Queen simply smiled and nudged them all with her hands sweetly.

"Hello, my little dears," The Queen said.

"Umm...hello! I-I-I-I'm Dounowaki…Fu-Fu-Fu-Fukiko! It's a...pleasure to meet you, Your Most Royal Highness!" Fukiko stammered and bowed deeply as the fairies flew back to them. The Queen chuckled a bit.

"It's nice to meet you too. But there's no need for formalities here. Feel free to call me Mal or just Queen Mal. It's shorter," The Queen said as Fukiko raised her head.

"Umm...I don't mean to be rude, but...how come you're dressed like that?" Fukiko asked as politely as she could, hoping she wasn't being rude when pointing out Malgorzata's Native American style raiment. "Don't queens normally wear regal, beautiful ballroom dresses or something?"

"I have some, but I'm not a fan of them. I happen to like Native American style clothes. There's so much history to them, and they're quite loose and comfortable," The Queen told her kindly. But then she noticed someone is missing. "I take it Riko-chan couldn't come?"

"Yes. She has a math test to study for. She really wanted to come, though," Moonbeam explained.

"I see. Come on inside. All of the books are here on the first floor," The Queen invited them inside and the kids came right in. But they stopped in their tracks upon seeing the staggering piles of books in the room. Some towered and staggered like they were going to fall and scatter all over the place.

"We have to read all of these?" Marina asked.

"I don't mind. We'd best get to it," Hotaru said, having already picked up a book and skimming through it.

Without any more complaints, the kids and fairies perused through the books, looking for anything that might be pertinent regarding the Energia or the creation of Rozaniela. The queen had to leave to attend to some of her duties. They went through more books by the hour, having found nothing so far. Marina found one book with something written on the preface.

"_To anyone who is concerned,_

_If you happen to be Japanese, we apologize for stealing your language and writing system. We do have our own, but some of this information is extremely confidential, and if it falls into the wrong hands, someone could use it for evil purposes. Japanese happens to be one of the hardest languages in the world to learn and use, so we borrowed it for safety reasons. We hope you can forgive us. We have no intention of claiming your language to be ours. If you had information you wouldn't want people to read or use for evil purposes, wouldn't you do the same?_

_Sincerely,_

_Glinda of the Tree of Life."_

"Who's Glinda?" Marina muttered aloud, feeling satisfied for finding the answer for why most of these books are in Japanese. She did smile upon seeing a little tree drawn next to the signature in charcoal.

"I know Glinda's one of the main characters from Wicked," Anzu said as she put one book away and started on another.

"And what's the Tree of Life?" Sunbeam asked.

"Hey! I think I found something!" Fukiko exclaimed before reading aloud.

"All Rozanielan life began from the Tree of Life. It is a tree that has floated through space for generations. How a tree is able to wander through space even though it is a plant that depends on water and sunlight to survive, we haven't the faintest clue. The Tree of Life stands on the very top of Rozaniela, far north, where sunlight and water are plentiful. It is the tallest, biggest, most grand tree in all of the world, with balls of warm, golden light shining from all of its branches. We presume these lights are where we come from," Fukiko read from the book out loud.

"That kinda reminds me of a Sailor Moon episode I saw," Hotaru said.

"There's more here," Fukiko added. "Ever since our birth, we resided in the tree of life and the barrier that kept us inside. We lived content, comfortable lives, discovering the extent of our powers, our powers of creation. We did try living on other planets, but they weren't hospitable due to their lack of oxygen and basic life, so we resided in the tree for the time being. However, some of my friends grew to despise each other, using their powers in ways I cannot describe. I did not partake in any of the battles that followed, as I am a pacifist, averse to fighting and bloodlust. When too many casualties came to light, my friends finally reached an understanding. They decided that the tree from which they come from does not wish to see them fight over such petty things, and to stop relying on it for everything. We searched far and wide for a place we could live, so we could grow as a people, to learn a great many things, and live peacefully by our own means, so the tree can be happy. It took us years, but we finally found a planet. Earth. Some of us even lived there for a while, myself included. But while Earth does have many good things going for it, there's still so much wrong with the humans that live there," Fukiko stumbled on a lot of the words as she read through the paragraphs and passages.

But she continued on. "We came during a time of unrest and tension. Wars were being fought in various countries. Some were still struggling to create new countries or take back what was theirs. We were especially appalled by some of the so called rules that people of all kinds were expected to follow: Women are only allowed to wear dresses, get married, and become mothers. Dark skinned people are savage beasts who have no place in this world other than to be slaves. Orphans, illegitimate children, and the disabled are all considered inhuman by various powers that be. Can you believe these absurd, ridiculous rules society puts on people? Discriminating against others just because they have abnormalities, like different skin colors or missing limbs? To me, that is just terrible. My parents always allowed me to do whatever I want, like wear pants, leap off branches, and always encouraged me to follow my dreams and be kind to everyone, no matter who or what they are. Naturally, we decided that living on Earth wasn't worth it. It was at this time when one of my friends tested out one of her powers, and accidentally created a planet out of his magic. We thought it was an illusion at first, but it was real. My best friend, Felicie, created the planet we live on today. Using the knowledge we obtained from Earth, we grew plants on our planet, built civilizations, raised animals, and created our new lives. We named the planet Rozaniela, which in Polish means happiness and well being, because we want our planet to be a nice, happy place where everyone of all faiths, creeds, and races can live and coexist peacefully, without conflict or unrealistic expectations, where everyone is free to be themselves, unrestrained by ridiculous rules. We also happened to adopt many orphaned infants whose caretakers couldn't care less for their welfare. We couldn't just sit there and let them be hurt or even die, so we took them to our planet to raise for ourselves, so they can grow up and live happy lives, full of love and appreciation, things they never received in those awful orphanages," Fukiko stopped upon reading that last line. Then, a realization slapped her in the face. "Hey! I've heard something like this on the news! A bunch of babies are being stolen from third world orphanages by the truckloads! Are these people the ones responsible?!"

"Yeah," Marina deadpanned. "I know, I know, it sounds like kidnapping. We're kinda weirded out by it too."

"Is there anything more in there?" Moonbeam asked, peeking her head out from a book.

Fukiko skimmed through the book. "Hmm...no. Not after this. It's just a bunch of information on stuff like jousting, how to garden, a bunch of Rozaniela recipes…"

The girls and fairies went back to perusing through the many piles of books. It seemed to go on for hours until Sunbeam blurted out, "I found something on the Energia!"

"The Energia? Well, read it!" Kyoya exclaimed.

"Got it," Sunbeam began. "The Energia is shaped like a diamond. We picked the diamond shape because it is sleek and shapely, but still has enough space to store lots of energy. We named it the Energia because in Rozanielan language, the word energy translates to "limitless power" and the word "Gia," which also counts as a person's name, translates to heart or soul. We learned from Earth that diamonds are the hardest jewels in the world, and nothing can penetrate their exterior. They're so hard, they're used to deflect bullets. However, we have no way of checking whether the Energia has that kind of strength. After Rozaniela was created and steadily populated, me and my friends decided to seal all of our limitless power inside of it. That way, no other human being can get their hands on it, especially those with ill intentions. Not only that, if we hide it deep within the core of Rozaniela, nobody can ever enter, as it is nigh impossible for any normal human, fairy, or other worldly creature to have any form of access to it, especially if strong and efficient security systems are in place. No one should be cursed with these limitless powers, as they are easily susceptible to misuse. I can only hope that future generations, Earth and Rozaniela, can live in peace and continue to understand each other and accept each other, even in the face of hardship."

"I just found something on this Felicie person!" Moonbeam exclaimed, holding up a pink book.

"What's it say?" Kyoya asked.

"Lemme see...oh! Here we go! Felicie is a very dear friend of mine. She has the kindest, warmest, most caring heart of all. She is rather eccentric, however. Always flapping her hands, rocking back and forth when she's scared, screaming when she's mad, and getting angry when her daily routine is broken. But she doesn't mean any harm. In fact, she is quite the sweetheart, and has always been there for me since we were born. I still find it hard to believe that she is the one who created Rozaniela," Moonbeam recited.

"Are there any pictures of her?" Fukiko asked.

"No. There aren't any pictures in any of these books," Moonbeam said a little dejectedly.

"Why does she remind me of Riko?" Hotaru whispered out loud.

"Anyone want to take a break? My eyes feel like they're gonna fall out," Lovebeam asked.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Anzu said.

"Hey. You guys hear all that yelling outside?" Fukiko asked as a faint but roaring sound caught her ear.

"Let's check it out! It sounds like it's right outside the castle," Kyoya said, already wheeling toward the entrance. Everyone else followed suit.

When they went outside, they found a huge crowd of people gathered around. The Queen, riding her alicorn wearing jousting armor, holding a lance in her hand, is racing toward another fellow jouster, successfully breaking his lance. Everyone cheered when Malgorzata won the match.

"Jousting?" Anzu asked.

"The Queen is very good at jousting. It's one of her favorite past times," Starbeam told them.

"Wanna watch?" Marina asked. Everyone nodded and broke through the crowd so they could watch.

A few more jousting matches followed, and each time, Malgorzata won. She single handedly defeated every challenger who dared to face her. But she never wore any faces that made her come off as arrogant or full of herself, nor did she boast. She simply helped up every challenger she defeated as everyone else rejoiced in her victories. After a while, the citizens scattered, returning to their missions to rebuild homes, give food and clothes to the poor, and find survivors of Zenjin's worldwide attack. The kids and fairies found themselves awestruck as Malgorzata removed her armor.

"A little jousting really does work up an appetite. But it sure is fun," Malgorzata said as she wiped some sweat off her face.

"Wow! You were awesome back there!" Marina exclaimed cheerfully, her golden eyes sparkling.

"Oh no. I'm not worthy of such praise. My opponents deserve just as much of it, if not more," Malgorzata told her modestly.

"Why are you jousting in front of your castle?" Fukiko asked.

"There's nothing wrong with a little fun time every once in a while, even in the midst of despair. If we spent our lives being serious all the time and only doing what others want us to do, there wouldn't be any joy in anything. Sometimes a little fun and laughter is a great medicine for sadness. Just a little bit of it is able to take us away from our despair," Malgorzata explained kindly.

"True that," Anzu piped in, agreeing with her statement. She learned that from experience.

"By the way, have you found anything in the books we saved so far?" Malgorzata asked kindly.

"Not much on Pretty Cure, but we did learn about your ancestors and how they came from a giant tree floating in space," Kyoya explained first. "Some of those books were written by someone named Glinda. Would you happen to know who that is?"

"Glinda? Not very much, but I do know she was one of the first people to be born from the Tree of Life, as I've heard from my parents," Malgorzata explained. "I wasn't there when they started taking orphans from third world countries."

"We also learned about the Energia, why it's shaped like a diamond, and where it's name comes from. Here's the book," Marina said as she handed Malgorzata the book.

"I was there when our ancestors created the Energia and sealed it away, deep beneath the core of the planet. One of their descendants, Sharleigh, who was also my mother, crowned me Queen of Rozaniela at that time, in the hopes that me and my husband, Ghislain, can lead Rozaniela to a bright, happy, and prosperous future, and keep the Energia out of evil hands."

"Are you immortal by any chance?" Sunbeam asked.

"Yes. Mother thought I would be the best person to lead Rozaniela to happiness, and I drank a potion of immortality that came from her powers before she sealed them in the Energia. Even if I live to see many people be born and die, I will shoulder the burden of taking care of Rozaniela for life," Malgorzata told her with a somber face.

The children looked away, feeling the implications of Malgorzata's words dawn on them, and they certainly thought her fate stunk. Living forever has its pros and cons, after all. Anzu and Moonbeam had to wonder how the Queen held out as long as she did.

"One thing I notice is that everyone's always so nice to each other," Marina said. "Nobody picks on each other or anything. Everyone's always helping each other."

"I'm glad you noticed that, Marina-chan. Rozaniela's number one rule is for everyone to be understanding and kind to everyone of all races, species, orientations, etc. We don't stand for hatred or malice in this world, even though it still persists. I try my best to set a good example for my citizens, but I don't know if I'm doing a very good job of it," Malgorzata explained with one hand on her heart.

"I think you're doing just fine," Hotaru piped in kindly. "If you weren't, then nobody on this planet would like you or do so much for your sake."

Malgorzata nodded. "That's true."

"By the way, you told us once that there were Pretty Cure before us, right? Cures Sunlight and Daylight?" Anzu asked. "What were they like? Can you tell us more about them?"

"Sure! I'd be happy to," Malgorzata said, her beaming smile returning in full force. "Let's talk inside. It's better than standing around here."

They went back into the room full of books and sat down. "You said their names were Youko and Hinata, right?" Anzu asked.

"Yes. Nozawa Youko and Akai Hinata," Malgorzata began. "I came across them on my own visit to Earth once. I had only just begun my reign as Queen, and I was curious to learn more about Earth and it's ways."

(flashback)

_Malgorzata arrived on Earth dressed in a particularly pretty cherry blossom pink yukata with red flowers decorating it, a matching red obi, Japanese geta sandals, and a big red hibiscus flower hair clip in her silver hair. Although she preferred her favorite Native American style garb, she took on the yukata so she wouldn't stand out as much, or have people question where she came from. She did like the yukata, but she found the sandals to be very hard to walk on. Every step she walked, she wobbled and felt like she was going to fall. Thankfully, she managed to maintain her balance the more she walked._

_She liked the traditional Japanese houses with their sliding doors, hooked roofs, tatami mats, among other things. A little boy handed a newspaper to her sadly before running off. Malgorzata noticed that the boy's eyes are red and swollen, like he had been crying. She sat down on a bench and opened the newspaper, dated 1942. The headlines read _'Tokyo Bombed By Air Raid! City In Flames!'_ Her eyes widened with horror upon reading the newspaper, detailing the horrible tale of Tokyo being destroyed by fire bombs and the immeasurable amount of people who died. The pictures certainly didn't help matters either. They're black and white, but they didn't obscure the clouds of smoke curling from the decimated city, the flames dancing on the ground, the piles of black, burned corpses, people with flames on their faces, arms, and other parts of their body struggling to escape. The newspaper also said something about Americans being responsible for the bombings. Malgorzata was appalled by the event before, but upon seeing this, she facepalmed._

"_Why do people have to hurt each other?" Malgorzata mused to herself sadly as she put the newspaper on the bench and walked away. But before she could go any further, she felt a chubby, marshmallow-like mass bump into her. She almost fell over, but she managed to regain her balance. When she looked down, she saw a very plump little girl of about eight years old, with a fat face and matching chubby cheeks. But what was unsettling to Malgorzata is that the girl's left eye is extremely swollen, an ugly mixture of yellow and purple. A bruise. The girl also has some red splotchy marks on her plump arms and legs. The girl's small eyes are a light shade of hazel, with more shades of brown than green. Her hair is dark blonde, like the foliage of a sunflower, tied in dangly little pig tails with green scrunchies. She's wearing a dirty white shirt with some dust and dirt marks on it, along with a pair of poofy blue pants. She is barefoot, with one of her toes bleeding a little, like she stubbed it on something hard. One of her sleeves is ripped to the point of almost coming right off. The girl's cheeks are wet and shining under the sun, which told Malgorzata everything she needed to know._

"_Hello, little girl. Why do you cry so?" Malgorzata crooned in a gentle voice as she kneeled down to the girl's level. The little girl continued to snivel and sob. "What happened to you, dear?"_

"_Please...please help me! Gramma hates me!" The little girl cried, with more tears streaming down her fat face. Already, Malgorzata's heart went out to the sad little girl. She stroke her blonde hair gently._

"_What happened to you?" Malgorzata asked gently._

"_I dun wanna be with Gramma anymore! She yells at me all the time! She hits me a lot, calls me names, and says I gots bad blood in me!" The little girl wailed sadly._

_Malgorzata wondered if the girl ran away. Based on her account, she probably couldn't take it anymore. Nevertheless, she pitied the little girl and held her close. "Your grandmother shouldn't treat you like that. You deserve better. I don't think you have bad blood. I'm sure you're a wonderful girl," Malgorzata told her gently._

_The girl's sniveling softened a bit. "You really think so?"_

"_I know so," Malgorzata smiled upon saying this, which made the girl smile._

_Unfortunately, her smile faded as soon as it appeared. "Youko! Where are you, you wretched half-breed?!"_

"_Oh no! Gramma!" The little girl, Youko, hid behind Malgorzata with a fat face full of fear as an old woman, wearing a dark green kimono, orange obi, and with her grey hair tied up in a odango bun came onto the scene. The old woman's face looked like it was made of stone, completely stern and emotionless, but she could see twinges of anger swirling around in them like fish in a pond. Malgorzata didn't like what she saw. She stood firmly in front of the frightened girl, staring daggers at the old woman._

"_Would you happen to be this girl's grandmother?" Malgorzata asked calmly, hoping she doesn't lose her cool._

"_That is none of your concern. Come with me, Youko. You need to be punished for defying me again," The woman said sternly as she tried to approach Malgorzata to try and take Youko back by force. Malgorzata was quick to act, as she stayed in front of the girl, keeping the old woman away from her. "Why do you stand in my way?"_

"_What do you mean by defying you? What has she done to deserve getting beaten to the point of getting a black eye? And furthermore, you're her grandmother but you don't even like her. Where are her parents?" Malgorzata asked._

"_Her father is an American. They're the ones who are causing Japan so much suffering! But one of those blasted soldiers eloped with my daughter, and she died three years ago from tuberculosis!" The woman saw a flash of herself crying at the side of a younger woman, unconscious in a bed, with a wet cloth on her forehead. "Someone has to keep that half-breed on a leash. She's nothing but trouble, and I can't have that devil's spawn contaminating the rest of our society," The woman exclaimed with malice dripping in her calm voice._

_Already Malgorzata wanted to just leave. This is Youko's grandmother. How can she be so cruel as to beat an innocent child just because she happens to be of mixed race? It's not Youko's fault she came out the way she did. "You talk as though Youko-chan is a monster. Just because she's of mixed ancestry doesn't mean she'll turn out bad. I'm sure not ALL Americans are bad, and you shouldn't be cruel to Youko because of something that isn't her fault," Malgorzata told her defensively._

"_You know nothing! Now, out of my way! That child has to come back to me!"_

"_You don't even like her! She deserves better than the way you treat her!"_

_Malgorzata took Youko by the hand and ran from the scene rather hastily. Youko didn't seem to mind despite the fact that her feet are hurting. Malgorzata ran through the streets of whatever Japanese city she was in, looking for a police station. There has to be one around here somewhere. She needed to tell them about this. Youko deserves better. She deserves to be with someone who will love and care for her, and not hate her for her mixed ancestry. She finally found a police station about a mile away. She found a police officer and told him about what happened, but the man seemed world weary, like he hadn't slept in a few days. She and Youko sat in the waiting room and played hand games before the police man came back._

_Malgorzata did NOT like what she heard. "What?! You won't arrest her grandmother?!" She yelped, her eyes wide with shock._

"_We get cases like this every day, ma'am. There isn't much we can do. Plus, we have no proof that the girl is being abused. We have our hands full as it is with the war," The man told her grimly. She could see some sadness in his eyes, like he wanted to do something. "Besides, even if we could take her away from Nozawa-san, there isn't an orphanage in all of Japan that'll take a half-American child, especially at the rate Japan's going."_

"_Who cares about race?! That shouldn't matter here!" Malgorzata shouted._

"_I know how you feel, ma'am," The police officer stammered frightfully. "But that's just the way it is! I wish it were different, but there's nothing I can do! You'd best give her back. Even if Nozawa-san does beat her, she's a lot luckier than you think. Others don't have families anymore. At least Youko will have food, clothing, and shelter."_

_Malgorzata balled her fists. Even if Americans are responsible for Japan's crumbling state as of now, that's no reason to think they're all bad, and to Malgorzata, it doesn't justify abusing an innocent child. To Malgorzata, no child should be abused by their caretaker, especially for dumb reasons, even if they do get food, clothes, and shelter. Youko looked at Malgorzata with said eyes, like she wanted to cry some more._

"_No one like me. Daddy's gone. Mommy's gone," Youko whimpered sadly, having overheard the conversation._

_A crack appeared in Malgorzata's heart. She escorted the girl out of the police station. She then kneeled down to her level. "Would you like to come live with me?"_

(end flashback one, begin flashback two)

_Malgorzata, in a yellow kimono this time, looked at a newspaper, dated 1945. The big, bold headlines read _'Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombed! Japan Surrenders!'_ With a sigh, she threw it into a nearby trash can. She heard some people yelling and crying, how their country shouldn't have lost the war. They could have had a chance. Malgorzata, sympathetic to their cause as she is, knew there isn't much she could do to reassure them. She knew reality had to sink into their minds some time. There was no denying it. She saw the pictures in the newspapers. The mushroom shaped cloud rising into the sky, polluting the once clean air. People of all ages without limbs, their bodies covered in flames or charred black skin, mangled and charred corpses lying amongst the aftermath. All of these made Malgorzata want to puke._

_As she walked through the busy but grim streets, she happened to come across a young girl of eleven sitting on a sidewalk, leaning against the brick walls of a closed down ice cream shop. The girl has very messy, scraggly red hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in days. Her eyes are a pale shade of brown, but they're swollen and red from too much crying. The girl is still crying, clinging to a pretty little plush doll with blonde hair and blue button eyes, wearing a cute little blue and white lace dress, with sewn on blue shoes and white stockings. The girl is dressed in rags, her tattered brown dress barely reaching her scratched up knees. The red haired girl's tears fell on the little doll. Malgorzata's heart went out to the girl. She ambled toward the girl and kneeled in front of her with pity in her green eyes._

"_Hello dear. What's wrong?" Malgorzata asked in her dulcet voiced. The girl closed her eyes and said nothing._

"_Where are your parents?" She asked. The girl shook her head. That told Malgorzata what she needed to know._

"_The bomb…" The girl croaked in a sad, raspy, choked voice, like she hadn't eaten or drank anything._

"_Do you have other family?"_

_She shook her head again._

"_What's your name, dear?"_

"_Hinata…"_

"_How long have you been like this?"_

"_Two weeks…"_

"_That's a cute doll you have there."_

_Hinata sniffed and sobbed again. "Mom made it for me on my 3rd birthday…I wanna make dolls when…hic...I grow up…"_

_Malgorzata smiled. At least she's getting something out of her. She extended her hand out to her with a warm smile. "Would you like to come live with me?"_

(end flashback two)

"Oh my gosh...that's so sad…" Fukiko muttered sympathetically.

"Sad, indeed!" Starbeam agreed.

"What happened next?" Hotaru asked.

"That's a much nicer story," Malgorzata began. "The girls blossomed when they came to Rozaniela. I couldn't take care of them myself because of my duties as Queen, so two of my knights offered to raise them as their own, since they've always wanted children. When they came to Rozaniela, it was like they became completely different people."

(flashback)

_Hinata, with her long red hair shiny and clean, wearing nice, brand new clothes, ran through the field of flowers with a face and smile that were so radiant and so blinding that one could mistake it for the sun itself. Instead of the rags she wore when Malgorzata found her, she's now wearing a dark blue buttoned up dress with short sleeves, a red and white skirt that goes down to her knees, and white laced shoes. In one of her hands is a big basket with an undressed, undecorated doll in it, some doll sized clothes she made herself, some knitting yarn, a box of sewing needles, and a juice box. When she found a particularly nice spot, she sat down on her knees, pulled out the doll, and began putting a little white dress on her. She then sewed some dark brown buttons on the doll's face. When she finished that, she made a little stitchy mouth, sewed a blonde wig on it, and sewed some white shoes on the doll's feet. When she finished, she held the doll up in the air happily._

"_Yay! You're perfect! I think I'll call you Lacie!" Hinata exclaimed happily. But before she put her doll down, she noticed another little girl about her own age sitting a few feet away from her. Her curly dark blonde hair trailed down to her shoulders. Her brown eyes, soft and warm, fixated on the flowers she's gathering in her plump little hands. She's wearing a pretty light green dress with lots of snow white flowers all over it, going way past her knees. She's also wearing dark green shoes and white tights. While she still had a plump, potato shaped face and plump legs, she lost a significant amount of weight in the years she spent on Rozaniela, having reached a healthier weight. Curious, Hinata stood up and ambled over to the girl in the green dress._

_The girl smelled the flowers and relished their lovely aroma. "Beautiful…" She mused to herself sweetly._

"_Do you like flowers?" Hinata asked sweetly. The girl beneath her turned around with a gasp, surprised that another presence is behind her. Her face turning red like a tomato, she looked down and grabbed some more flowers._

"_Y-Y-Yes…" The curly haired girl replied sheepishly. Hinata kneeled to her level curiously._

"_I'm Akai Hinata! What's your name?" Hinata asked._

"_No-No-No-Nozawa...Youko…" The girl, Youko, replied shyly._

_With a yelp, Hinata clasped her hands together. "Youko-chan!"_

_Youko looked at Hinata's basket and noticed the doll in it. "Is that your doll?"_

_Happily, Hinata pulled her doll out to show Youko. "Yep! I just finished cleaning her up! Her name's Lacie!"_

_Youko flashed a small smile. "She's adorable."_

"_Thanks! I love making dolls look nice and making little doll clothes! When I grow up, I wanna make lots and lots of dolls, especially the pretty porcelain ones they used to display in the stores I'd pass whenever I'd go to school!" Hinata exclaimed happily._

_Much to Youko's surprise, she found herself enjoying the bubbly red haired girl's company. She liked her friendly attitude, her infectious smile, her radiant light brown eyes, the way she talked about the doll she made. "What do you wanna be when you grow up, Youko-chan? Do you wanna be a florist since you like flowers?"_

"_Nuh-uh. I want to do flower arranging," Youko told her shyly, but sweetly, in her dulcet voice._

"_I think it's boring. I tried it once but couldn't get anything right," Hinata piped in._

"_My mother loved arranging flowers. Before she died, she would always show me the displays she made," Youko said._

_Hinata's smile faded and she donned a sympathetic look. "Your mom died? I'm sorry. Mine did too."_

"_You too?"_

"_Yep, along with everybody else. Atomic bombs."_

"_That's horrible! I wasn't there when the bombs hit, but some people have been telling me about them."_

"_I know," All of a sudden, Hinata's smile came back. "But enough sad stuff!" She suddenly stood up. "Hey! Wanna come to my house and play? I'd love to show you my little sewing machine and teach you how to make doll clothes! Wanna come? Please please please!" Hinata begged happily._

_Youko wasted no time answering. "Sure!"_

_Hinata took her by the hand. "So this means we're friends, right? Wanna be my friend?"_

"_Uhh...okay…"_

"_Yay! Come on!"_

_From a few feet away, Malgorzata smiled as Hinata dragged the surprised but endeared Youko away from the flower field, happy that those two are blossoming like newly born flowers in the spring sunshine._

(end flashback)

"I have a question!" Marina piped in. "How did you get the Heart Lighters? Do you know where they come from?"

"I'm afraid not, Marina-chan. All I know is that my mother gave me eight of them before she and the others put their powers inside the Energia forever. She told me that they're only useful when in dire straits. She put a note attached to two of them, but I was not to open it or read it until a time came when they were needed," Malgorzata explained. "Unfortunately, one of my friends went to Earth once with two of them to run some errands, but he dropped them. We tried looking for them, but we never found them. However, three years later, another one of my friends took the Energia to get it inspected, and he had a sudden errand to run in Earth before he came back. He dropped the Energia by accident and it fell in someone's hands."

"Do you know who?" Hotaru asked.

"Again, no. But news spreads fast in between worlds. I figured it'd be a good time to get the Heart Lighters out."

(flashback)

_14-year-olds Hinata and Youko sat in the front yard of a small cabin in a pretty meadow. Hinata showed off a new porcelain doll she designed clothes for, and Youko showed off a flower arrangement she made, even though it looked a little choppy and disorganized. Hinata didn't seem to mind._

"_Woooow! It's beautiful! You used tulips!" Hinata exclaimed happily._

_Youko looked away a little sheepishly. "Thanks, but it's not that good."_

_But before they could talk further, they saw Queen Malgorzata riding on her noble alicorn, Celestia, and descending in front of them. As Celestia's hooves touched the ground, Malgorzata leaped right off._

"_Hiya Mal!" Hinata exclaimed happily, waving to the grim looking queen._

"_Good morning, Your Royal Majesty," Youko politely curtsied to Malgorzata._

"_Girls, I'm sorry to bother you. Youko, is Gideon home by any chance?" Malgorzata asked._

"_Huh? Queen Mal," Confused, Hinata pointed to a bag Malgorzata has slung on her shoulder. "Your bag is glowing."_

"_What?!"_

_She's right. The bag is glowing in both a red and white light. The Queen opened her bag and pulled out two glass perfume bottles shaped like stars, one red one and one transparent white one. Hinata's eyes sparkled, awestruck by how beautifully they're glowing. The Queen, on impulse, twisted the caps on both of them, allowing the lights inside them to fly right out. The red light flew in front of an enthusiastic Hinata, the white light in front of a confused Youko._

"_What's happening?! What are these things?!" Youko asked frightfully. Hinata wasted no time grabbing the red light, which turned into a little red circle shaped stone. The red glass bottle glowed for a while before stopping, but the star shaped bottle now has a circle shaped cavity in it. Reluctantly, Youko grabbed the white light, which turned into a flower shaped white jewel. The white glass bottle glowed for a while before stopping, revealing a flower shaped cavity with six protrusions resembling petals._

"_What? What is this?" Malgorzata asked herself. Then she remembered. "The note!" She grabbed the note hanging from the red bottle and opened it. It turned out to be quite big. It had a list of instructions on it, two of them being… "Put the jewel in the cavity of the Heart Lighter. Shout 'Pretty Cure, let the light shine!' What does this mean?" She said aloud, loud enough for the girls to hear._

_Hinata grabbed the two bottles and handed the white one to Youko. They then put the jewels inside the Heart Lighters. "No! Wait-!"_

"_Pretty Cure, let the light shine!"_

_Before Malgorzata could do anything, Hinata was swamped by a tornado of red light, Youko drowning in a sea of white light. Soon, the lights dissipated, and the girls came out wearing different outfits. Hinata is now wearing a sleeveless red shirt with white lace going across the front with red circle shaped buttons, with a big reddish orange bow on her chest with a red six pointed star clip on it. She's also wearing a silver belt with a red six pointed star on it, along with a two tiered skirt (first tier red with round ends, second tier white with pointed ends) with burgundy pockets and a white line going across it, red Spanish dancing shoes complete with the red string wrapped around her legs, and white tights. She's also wearing fingerless orangish red gloves with white lines near the ends going up to just above her elbows, along with reddish orange arm bands with red circles on them. Her teal ribbons have been spared. Her red hair suddenly became lighter in shade, looking a lot more wild. In her left ear is a jewel shaped like a red, six pointed star._

_Youko, on the other hand, is a different story. Her curly dark blonde hair has suddenly turned snow white, with a big white flower hair clip on the back of her hair with two big green leaves protruding out from it. She also has a pink flower hair clip on her bangs, also with two little green leaves protruding from it. She is wearing a white shirt with matching white lace going across the front, with white flower shaped buttons. She's wearing a white ribbon on her chest with a white flower shaped clip on it, white scrunchies beneath her shoulders, and string wrapped around her arms. She's wearing a silver belt with a white flower shaped jewel on the front, a flowery, poofy white skirt, white socks that go up to her knees with pink flower and green leaf decorations on the top, and silver and white shoes with white ribbons that have white flower clips on them._

"_I am the light that pierces the night, Cure Daylight!" Hinata, now cure Daylight, proclaimed proudly while striking a pose._

"_I am the light whose golden effulgence radiates the Earth! Cure Sunlight!" Youko, now Cure Sunlight, proclaimed passionately as she struck a pose._

"_Together we're Pretty Cure!"_

"_Uhh...what just happened?" Youko asked, looking very confused._

_Malgorzata just stood there, as her jaw ungracefully fell off of the top of her mouth, unable to comprehend what just happened before her eyes. "Pretty Cure…?"_

(end flashback)

"And then what?" Moonbeam asked.

"Yeah! I wanna hear more!" Sunbeam exclaimed excitedly.

"At first, I couldn't believe what just happened. But I read the note some more and learned that the Pretty Cure are heroes who are needed when the time called for them. When strange things began happening on Earth, Youko and Hinata found out about it. I knew they were needed, but I was scared to let them go back to the place that had deprived them of what they loved," Malgorzata explained.

(flashback)

"_Queen Malgorzata! Please! Let us go to Earth!" Cure Sunlight pleaded with desperation in her eyes before the Queen, sitting on her throne with a worried expression._

"_I cannot let you do that! The situation is dangerous enough as it is! I refuse to let you put yourselves in danger!" Queen Malgorzata yelled, standing from her throne and swinging her hand._

"_But your knights might not be enough to defeat them!" Cure Daylight piped in. "Please! The people on Earth need us!"_

"_Absolutely not!" Queen Malgorzata proclaimed. "You two are very precious to me. Earth hasn't been kind to you. With the way things are now, I can't bear to lose you two! It's dangerous down there, especially with the person who has the Energia wreaking havoc, whoever he or she is!"_

"_That's exactly why we should go, Queen! Earth is where we came from! Don't get us wrong. We're very grateful for everything you and everyone else did for us. Really, we are! But…" Cure Sunlight balled one of her fists. "There's a reason why the Heart Lighters resonated with us and turned us into Pretty Cure! This might be it! The Earth needs heroes, people who can defeat those monsters!"_

"_Cure Sunlight is right, Queen Malgorzata. We can't just sit here and do nothing, especially since we have powers nobody else can get!" Cure Daylight echoed Sunlight's argument._

"_Even if you are Pretty Cure, you don't know how to use your powers fully yet. I don't want you getting reckless, because that's what leaves you open to getting hurt or even killed, and you two were already close to crossing the thresholds to death when I first found you both! Whoever this person is, he has the Energia, and he has powers that no human being should ever possess. He or she can do whatever he wants with it, from warping reality to committing worldwide genocide! You are not aware of the repercussions such a person can create, and I don't want you putting your lives on the line because of a mistake," By mistake, she means the person dropping the Energia by accident, leading to its discovery._

"_We know that! But who else can stop him or her? We have to do something!" Cure Daylight argued. "Don't you care about the people on Earth?!"_

_Malgorzata stopped talking when she said that. She looked down at her Native American style dress. They raised some very valid points. She clutched a sleeve on her dress, not wanting to let them go get themselves killed. She knew very well the dangers their going to Earth could bring. But in a way, she saw no point in trying to stop them. Their minds are made up. She closed her eyes, remembering the times she met them. They were just helpless little girls, lost in a world that had abandoned them, unable to get by, who could have died had they not been saved. Now, they've blossomed into strong women, and it seems the world does need them. "You two aren't the same children I saved from Earth. Alright. I'll let you two get the Energia back. But I have one question for you...when you go to Earth, are you going to live there from then on?"_

"_We're thinking about it, but we're not sure yet. But we do want to live in the planet we came from. We dearly love Rozaniela and all, but there's lots of things we can learn from Earth. We want to try living there and seeing what it's like to be on our home planet," Cure Sunlight explained calmly._

"_If you wish to live on Earth after this is over, I won't stop you. However, life on Earth is very different from life on Rozaniela. It is more technologically advanced than we are, and there is more despair and hardship to face. I'm afraid you won't be able to adjust very well," Queen Malgorzata explained._

"_Queen, we'll do everything we can to get the Energia back!" Cure Daylight exclaimed._

"_I see. Then go to Earth. The people there need you. From what my messengers have been telling me, the monster attacks have been taking place in the country called Germany," Queen Malgorzata explained, showing them a map of Earth, pointing to where Germany is._

"_But we don't speak German!" Cure Sunlight piped in._

"_Just focus on getting the Energia back with as little loss of life as possible," Malgorzata told them._

"_You can count on us, Queen Mal!" Cure Daylight said. Both she and Cure Sunlight, with the Queen's help, teleported to Earth to find the person with the Energia and take it back._

"_Bye bye!" The girls said, waving before being teleported away._

(end flashback)

"What happened next? Did you get it back?" Kyoya asked excitedly, eager to know more about the heroic, valiant exploits of the first Pretty Cure.

"Yes, they got the Energia back. But they didn't give it to us in person. They gave it to Gideon, who accompanied them to Earth for their safety. He gave it to me before going back to Earth. As it turned out, the girls decided to live on Earth after all. I haven't seem them or Gideon ever since," Malgorzata explained. "I have no idea where on Earth they are. But I'm sure they're living their own lives and doing well."

"Thanks a lot for telling us all this. This has been very enlightening," Hotaru told her politely with a bow.

"Yeah! The first ever Pretty Cure...I'd love to meet them some day," Marina said with a smile.

"We should definitely tell Riko about this," Anzu piped in cheerfully.

The Queen smiled. "I'm glad. In fact, if you want, you can go home now. You did a good job finding whatever information we could get."

"You're welcome. Sorry we couldn't find out more," Lovebeam said.

"You know, An-chan, I saw a picture of Youko-san once, and you actually look a lot like her, only her hair was curly," Sunbeam explained.

"I do?" Anzu asked.

"It's alright. This isn't an easy task, after all. But once we decipher the archives, we'll be able to learn everything we need about the Energia and how to stop Zenjin. You'd best be going now. I don't want your parents to worry," The Queen said gently. The kids and fairies decided to teleport back to Earth to tell Riko everything they heard about Cures Sunlight and Daylight.

* * *

"I am sooooo tired!" Beileag complained as she plopped onto her tacky purple and pink comforter, her purple and green hat falling right off of her head and onto the pillow.

"Based on your display of exhaustion and your demeanor, I take it you were unsuccessful in finding information," Decebal piped in as he came into her room, combing his green hair with a comb.

"You read me like a map, Decebal," Beileag said, her voice muffled by the thick and heavy comforter she's lying on. "I wish we had more to go on! I know Zenjin doesn't remember much because of the abuse he endured, and I get that, but, like, seriously, I wish he at least knew the woman's name! Or the name of the school he went to!" She complained, taking her glasses covered face out of the comforter.

"It's very frustrating, yes. It doesn't help that Zenjin can't read or write for the life of him, not even basic katakana," Decebal said as he twirled one of his green curls with his glove covered finger.

"I know he said he didn't go to school for very long," Beileag piped in as she clutched one of her flower shaped pillows. "Where is Zen-chan anyway?"

"He went to look for information himself," Decebal replied, combing his hair some more.

"I hope he doesn't blow anything up. The police might chase him and put him in jail."

"Zenjin's strong. He won't go down so easily," Decebal said. "He was a wild thing, even when we first met him."

(flashback)

_Decebal and Beileag, slightly younger, met with King Ghislain in the waiting room of a hospital. "You sent for us, Your Majesty?" Decebal asked with Beileag trailing behind him._

"_I apologize for calling you out here so suddenly," The King explained. "The boy is faring much better since you and I have saved him, Decebal."_

"_He is, huh? That's good," Decebal said with a smile._

"_But there is something I want to discuss with you. My wife and I would love to raise him ourselves, but we don't have time for children because of the gravity of our duties," King Ghislain explained again._

"_What does that have to do with us?" Beileag asked._

"_Well...it makes me feel awkward to ask you this, but...I've called you here...to ask if you two can...take on the responsibility of taking care of him," King Ghislain explained, stumbling a bit before bowing._

_Decebal and Beileag let his question sink in for a bit. Then Beileag screamed. "Ehhhhhh?! But...Your Majesty! We're too young to be adoptive parents! Plus we have our acting careers! I don't want to give it up! I live for acting and frolicking in the spotlight-"_

"_We'll do it!" Decebal announced._

"_WHAT?!" Beileag yelped. "You wanna do it?!"_

"_You'll do it?" King Ghislain asked, wondering if he heard right._

_Decebal put a palm on his heart and bowed lightly. "We would be honored to take on this responsibility, Your Majesty. I had been planning to take a leave of absence from the troupe anyway."_

"_I don't want to get in the way of your acting careers. I know your troupe is very important to you, but I don't have anyone else to rely on. I don't want the boy to fall through the cracks," King Ghislain told them with a pained look on his face._

"_There's no need to worry, Your Majesty. Beileag and I will take full responsibility for him and care for him as though he is our own," Decebal told him kindly._

"_Hey! I didn't agree to this!" Beileag shouted, not keen on the idea._

"_Beileag. The boy needs a mother in his life. I know you love acting and all, but they say a little pain comes with any good fortune," Decebal said. "We're living under the same roof after all, so you might as well suck it up and deal with it."_

_Beileag crossed her arms and looked away like a petulant child._

"_I really appreciate this. I'll bring the boy in right now," King Ghislain said before going through some doors to get the boy in question._

"_Decebal! Why are you agreeing to this?! Raising a child is hard work! Acting is hard enough as it is! This'll never work!" Beileag exclaimed worriedly._

"_I think having a child around will be wonderful. Besides, maybe it'll teach you to not be such a drama queen," Decebal told her._

"_But we don't know what this kid is like. What if he's a prankster or a big time trouble maker?!" Beileag yelped._

"_We'll deal with it. This'll give us some new experiences," Decebal replied pertly._

_Soon, King Ghislain came back into the waiting room, holding the left hand of a very young, spindly looking little boy, with long, neck length crimson hair. He's ten years old, but if one didn't know better, they'd assume he was seven or eight years old. Both of his arms and legs are very thin, like sticks that would break under even the lightest amount of pressure. His eyes-a neutral shade of chocolate brown-have absolutely no life in them. No spark, no light, nothing. It was as though all the life had been sucked right out of them, shut off like a light switch. His left eye is covered with a white eyepatch, and his head has some gauze wrapped around it. His right arm is in a cast from shoulder to palm, leaving his fingers mobile. His right ankle is wrapped in bandages, going right up to his knee. There are some bandages on his left arm, covering some small scratches. Decebal ambled up to the boy and kneeled before him._

"_Hello there," Decebal told the boy. "I'm Decebal, and this is my friend Beileag," He pointed to Beileag, who shyly waved at him. The boy said nothing. "Would you like to come live with us?"_

_The boy said nothing._

"_He hasn't told us his name yet, so don't force it," King Ghislain told them._

_Right after that, they took the boy to their humble home, a house which Decebal had recently bought some months ago. It's a small little place, but big enough to fit two adults and a small child in there. It's a pale, sunny shade of yellow, with a white roof and some windows with white shutters. They escorted Zenjin to what would be his room. It's a little small, with white walls, a light brown dresser and a bed with a sky blue comforter on it, but it seemed to suffice. _

_The crimson haired boy said absolutely nothing during his first days here, even when he seemed to move around and do whatever it is he needed to do, like eat, go outside, go to the bathroom, etc. Beileag had to admit, she's happy he hasn't caused any trouble or broke anything. One day, the boy sat on the grass in their backyard, staring at nothing in particular while Beileag ambled over to him and kneeled to his level._

"_So...what's your name?" Beileag asked._

_The boy said nothing._

"_I have to call you something. I can't just call you 'boy,' 'cause that's rude," Beileag added._

_Much to her surprise, she saw the boy's lips move, like he's trying to talk._

"_Ze…"_

"_Hm?" Beileag cocked her head to one size, her lavender eyes lighting up with curiosity behind those pink, star shaped glasses of hers._

"_Zenjin."_

_As soon as the boy said his name, he seemed to gasp a bit, like he never heard his own voice before in his whole entire life. The boy surprised not only Beileag, but himself. It was rather monotone and breathy, and not very loud, but still had a touch of squeakiness, like he hadn't reached puberty yet. He made a twisted face like he didn't like it. Beileag assumed it was to be expected._

"_So you're Zenjin, huh? Mind if I call you Zen-chan for short?" Beileag asked, happy to know his name._

_The boy, Zenjin, nodded._

_However, as happy as she is to be able to call him by his name, as the weeks went by, some problems began to arise. Zenjin, as he adamantly preferred to be called, when his arm finally healed, suddenly spent his days in really bad moods, constantly going off to wherever he pleased, throwing things all over the house, breaking things, stamping his feet, and screaming wildly._

"_Zenjin! Stop!" Decebal yelled as he watched Zenjin scream while throwing a glass cup to the floor, causing it to shatter into shards. But Zenjin didn't stop there. He picked a chair up and threw it across the dining room. Decebal wasn't in the way, so he was spared. But still, he and Beileag had to wonder just what is going on with the boy. _

_Beileag realized she spoke too soon when she said she's happy he wasn't breaking things or causing trouble. He didn't seem to aim for anyone in particular when he had these episodes. He just threw stuff and broke stuff just for the sake of doing it. He didn't hurt anyone, thank goodness. But his violent tantrums brought on more problems: he refused to eat or drink anything. He wouldn't take a bath. Worst of all, one day he fell sick with a fever, which didn't prove to be anything serious. But the boy made things difficult by screaming and refusing medicine, but they managed to get it in his system anyway. According to Hornbeam, King Ghislain's doctor, Zenjin is going through culture shock._

_Thankfully, in the days that followed, Zenjin shrugged off both the cold and the violent phase, and seemed to respond better to Decebal and Beileag._

(end flashback)

Decebal looked up at the ceiling of the fortress with solemn, cherry red eyes. "We'll find you. We'll go to the ends of the Earth to find you," He muttered to himself.

* * *

When they got home, they wasted no time telling Riko everything about Cure Sunlight and Daylight. Riko seemed delighted to hear the information. But Anzu decided to go outside and play her harmonica for a bit.

"You like the harmonica, don't you?" Marina piped in as she came out of Riko's house, ambling on the porch. Anzu played for a little while longer before stopping and responding.

"Yeah. I like the sound, and it calms me down," Anzu said with a smile before it faded.

"You're worried about your mom, aren't you?" Marina asked with some concern. Anzu nodded.

"I don't tell anyone this, but...I'm always afraid the court will grant her custody of me. I don't want her to take me away and do whatever she wants with me," Anzu told the orange haired girl, her voice trembling as she remembered the horrible days she spent with her mother while her father had to attend to a family emergency. "I wish I could just cut her out of my life once and for all."

"Why don't you?"

"Huh?"

"Maybe that's what you need to do. Tell her you're not gonna take her garbage anymore, cut her off, and leave her in the dust. That's what I did with my dad when Mom and I visited him in prison."

Anzu found her lime green eyes widening with surprise. "You did that? That's so brave."

"Yeah. But even more so for my mom, who's usually so scared she wakes up some nights screaming like a maniac. You should have seen her. She was seriously awesome. She totally ripped him a new one! But anyway, ever since we confronted him, we've never felt better. I think that's what you need: to get everything off your chest and let her know how you feel, even if she won't listen."

Anzu clutched her harmonica tightly. She had a good point. A really good point. All this time, Anzu's been so afraid of her hysterical, domineering mother to the point of vomiting every day. She hasn't vomited since then, but she still worries that she might do so. The threatening letters haven't stopped coming in, but she ignores them now. Anzu knew in her heart that she couldn't run away anymore. She couldn't ignore things anymore. With a resolve forming in her heart, she put her harmonica in her pocket.

"Thanks, Marina. You're probably right," Anzu said.

"You're welcome. Oh, and...it's probably really late but…" Marina replied sheepishly. "Remember how I used to call you and emo goth and say you cut yourself, even when you didn't? I'm sorry about all that."

Anzu shook her head. "That's alright. I make it a point to ignore stuff like that, so I forgive you."

"Honestly, ever since we first met when you transferred here, I've always been jealous of you. Everyone said bad stuff about you all the time, even me, but you never cared one bit," Marina said. Marina liked that about Anzu. She was confident in who she was, and didn't care about anyone else thought about her or did to her. She just did her own thing and lived life the way she wanted to. After that, Marina went back inside.

With that, Anzu knew exactly what to do. She pulled out her new cell phone and dialed her home number.

"_Anzu? Is that you?"_ Her father answered. _"Are you having fun?"_

"Hey, Dad? I've been thinking...there's something I want to do."

* * *

Anzu found herself on the train heading north, watching the scenery flash right by her as if she's traveling through time. In her hands is a map of where she needs to go once she gets to the station she has to get off at. Thankfully, the train ride from her home to the station she wants to get of at didn't turn out to be too long. "Wakaoji! Wakaoji!"

With that, Anzu hopped off the train and into the station, wasting no time paying the fee and getting out of there. When she got out, she looked at the map to see which directions she needs to go, paying attention to the street names on the other page. When she came across the ones she needed to get on, she went right on the streets, feeling her destination come ever closer.

Soon, she found herself standing in front of a small, sky blue, old Victorian style mansion with a ring of flowers on the front of the concrete. Anzu found herself frozen in place, trembling a bit, with her lime green eyes donning worry. She clutched her map tightly, like she wanted to squeeze the living daylights out of it. But then she stopped, took a breath, and stashed the map in her pocket. _'I can do this. If Marina can do it, then I can, too,'_ Anzu told herself as she stepped on the porch of the mansion. As she arrived in front of the burgundy doors, she took her fist and pounded on it five times.

It didn't take long for someone to answer the door. A woman in her early forties opened the thick burgundy doors, and looked surprised when she saw the blonde, bespectacled, black clad girl standing in front of her. The woman has straight blonde hair going down past her shoulders to her upper back, dark brown eyes like chocolate, and lips delicately framed with deep, dark red lipstick. Her eyes are framed with blue eye shadow, and underneath her right eye is a little mole. Dangling from the woman's ears are large, thin, gold hoop earrings. The woman is wearing a pale yellow blouse underneath a midnight blue business suit consisting of a long sleeved shirt, a medium length skirt, and black high heels.

But as soon as she laid eyes on Anzu, her eyes lit up like she saw someone she hadn't seen in years. But to Anzu, it was the most disgusting thing she'd ever seen. "Ohhh! Anzu, my darling daughter! You've finally come to your senses at last! Come on inside! I'll have my maids prepare some tea for-" The woman exclaimed happily in a sweet voice as she tried to escort Anzu inside by taking her by the hand. But Anzu swatted her hand away like she thought she was being kidnapped, staring daggers at her with her lime green eyes.

"I'm not here to be your puppet, Reika," Anzu venomously told the woman, Reika, whose eyes widened with shock upon hearing her own name, like she just heard a horrible racial slur come out of her daughter's mouth. It's bad enough she's wearing those ugly black clothes. "I'm here to cut you off."


End file.
